


I'll Fight With You

by ndubletmixer



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: AU, F/M, Felicity living at the mansion, Felicity on the run from her father, Hurt/Comfort, Kidnapping, Mirakuru
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-04
Updated: 2015-06-29
Packaged: 2018-03-10 11:45:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 62,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3289190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ndubletmixer/pseuds/ndubletmixer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After spending five years on the run from her father, Felicity's life is saved by The Arrow. Bringing her back to the lair, Oliver quickly realises Felicity's dangerous past and offers her protection. However, after an appearance of the Mirakuru and a potential bomb threat, maybe Felicity's life just grew more complicated, especially after every threat ties back to her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Stranger

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Arrow or the characters, any mistakes are mine.  
> This is my first fanfic so please let me know what you think and I hope you all enjoy it!

Pressing herself against the cold, damp wall Felicity silently looked into the night. The distant sound of traffic rushing by and the excited chatter in the air made the night seem alive. Felicity cautiously watched a couple who had obviously had one too many drinks, stagger across the road falling into one another's arms. The sight brought a dull ache to Felicity, she wished she had someone like that, someone to catch her when she fell or even just to ask her how her day was. Sighing, she checked up and down the road and when all seemed clear she sneaked up to the torn fence, and slipped through. She glanced behind her to the empty streets but there was not a soul in sight so she snuck into the broken door on the side of the abandoned building. Felicity followed the maze of rotten corridors and recognised the familiar damp scent. Letting out a heavy sigh, she clambered down what was left of a flight of stone stairs and let out a faint smile; Home, sweet home.

The dim lantern made a pathetic attempt at lighting up the dull room. Felicity lay down on top of her fraying sleeping bag and shivered as the iciness of the stone floor seeped through. She watched the grey droplets of water trickle down the worn out walls and pulled yet another blanket on top of her shivering body. Her stomach growled loudly at her as she pulled out the remains of a sandwich and began to munch on the soggy bread. Felicity hated stealing but the sandwich was the last of her haul and she knew she had no other choice, she was too frightened to go back home. The image of her father formed in her mind, standing over her with a sick smile playing on his face as he wiped his blood stained hands down his denim jeans. Taking a deep breath, Felicity exhaled shakily and tried to drive away the tears. The air in the room began to thin and her hands became soaked in sweat. She tried gasping for air but there was none, her body was tied to the ground, paralyzed. She covered her face in her trembling hands as a sea of panic overtook her. The sudden sound of voices above shook her from her panicked state. This place should be empty. Why were they here? How had they found her? The frightened thoughts ran through Felicity's mind. Tears rolled freely down her face as she scrunched her body into a ball, trying to make herself as small as possible, sinking into the shadows. She had been so careful, how could they be here? The distinct sound of gunshots echoed off the walls and into the night. Felicity gulped, she was dead for sure.

Oliver threw himself to the floor, barely dodging the gunfire of the bullets cutting through the air. Rolling forward on to all fours he sprang up, facing his opponent. Grabbing a tuft of the masked man's oily hair, he smashed the man's face on to his knee, immediately knocking his opponent out cold. Spinning round he observed about twenty men all in distorted masks posed, their guns staring him in the eye. He was outnumbered. 'Digg, I'm in a bit of a situation here' Oliver mumbled.

'Sara and Roy are nearly done, just hold them off for a few more minutes' Diggs voice replied into his earpiece. Oliver twitched, they were taking too long and the masked men were making their way towards him. In a split second Oliver reached for an explosive arrow and felt the tension in his bow as he fired it into the wall. The explosion blew him off his feet and he immediately realised the mistake he had made. 'Oliver! What the hell did you do that for?' Digg shouted into his earpiece. Oliver picked himself up groggily, shaking off his disorientation. He looked around, his eyes focusing on the crushed bodies of the masked men buried deep under piles of crumbled stone from the walls. Diggs voice broke Oliver out of his trance; 'I have checked the building and the thermo-imaging equipment says there is someone directly below you.' Dismay sunk into him, what was another guard doing down there? How many more of them are there? Oliver's attention was quickly drawn to the rapidly spreading cracks in the walls. He gulped; the building was going to collapse.

Felicity snuck forward, frantically searching for a way out. The sharp sound of gunfire was growing louder and suddenly the building started to tremble. The noise of the explosion screamed at Felicity, piercing her eardrums. The force threw her into the wall behind. A sickening thump was heard as she crashed against the stone, her vision turning black.

Throwing his bow over his shoulder Oliver charged down the corridor, following Diggle's confusing directions until he found himself at a worn out door. Pulling the heavy door open, Oliver raced down the steps. He caught his breath suddenly, astonished at what he saw. The expected large, threatening figure of a masked man was replaced by an innocent girl. She lay under several fragments of stone and a thick layer of dust. Her bright blond hair lay tangled and stuck to her face. She was wearing tatty tracksuit bottoms sprinkled in dust and even though she only had on a plain strappy top, the way it clung to her body made the girl look tiny and fragile. Unsure on what to do, Oliver walked over to her hesitantly. Lifting off the small pieces of stone, he checked for a pulse. Oliver breathed a sigh of relief, she was only unconscious. He didn't know why but the thought of losing this stranger filled him with pain. He brushed a perfect blond curl from her face and took in her rosy cheeks and crimson lips. His whole body tingled when his rough fingers brushed across her soft skin. Placing two arms underneath her, his arms sunk into the curves of her body, fitting perfectly. He lifted her delicate limp body and carried her back into the corridor, the sound of ceiling tiles crashing into the floor behind him, made him jump.

The light burned as Felicity tried to open her heavy eyelids, she had no idea where she was. The thick dust filled her lungs as she awoke in a panic. The first thing Felicity saw was a pair of ocean blue eyes looking at her with curiosity. Flecks of light danced across his eyes lighting up the man's face with colour. For a moment Felicity was transfixed, then her mind caught up with her and she flailed her arms about trying to escape from the strangers arms. She stood up quickly and a wave of dizziness washed over her. She stumbled, trying to blink it away and felt his hand on her shoulder helping to steady her. The cool breeze of the nights air gave her a chill, taking in her surroundings Felicity realised she was standing directly outside the ruins of the former building. She gasped, studying the man in front of her; 'No. No. No.' she mumbled, stumbling backwards away from him.

'I'm not going to hurt you, you are safe' His voice was softer than she had imagined and immediately felt her body relaxing. His vibrant green hood kept his face a secret to the world and his combat suit hugged his body perfectly. The realisation shook her, she had just been saved by the city's very own vigilante; The Arrow.

The Arrow looked towards the source of the laughter ringing throughout the night. Two figures left the building, the male muscular figure dressed in a fiery red hoodie and the other Felicity realised was The Canary. Seeing The Arrow distracted, Felicity started to run, the wind ran through her freely flowing hair and the icy, sharp wind cut her cheeks. She had only managed to run a few metres before The Arrow easily caught up. 'Hey, what are you doing? Wait.' She felt his strong hand tighten on her arm, pulling her backwards. Felicity filled with terror; 'I'm really sorry. Please. I won't tell anyone. Just please let me go.' A high-pitched version of herself squeaked.

'Don't worry, I just wanted to see if you were hurt. Are you alright?' A look of disbelief filled Felicity, his voice seemed genuinely concerned she concluded, maybe she wasn't in danger. 'I.. umm.. Yeh. I'm fine thanks. I .. urrr.. I just thought you were going to .. ummm never mind. No, it doesn't matter.' Felicity stuttered. 'Ummm look thank you Mr ummm Arrow if that is what I can call you. I don't really know, I have only just met you. But then you already know that because you are standing right there in front of me.' The Arrow cleared his throat, fighting away a smile. 'Right, sorry. Anyway I just wanted to say thank you for saving my life and all, not that it really means much to you seeing as this is an every-day thing for you. Anyway I am going to go now, see I'm starting to walk away so umm thank you and good night? I don't really know what else to say' Felicity carried on babbling whilst walking away. She just met The Arrow, the fricken Arrow and all she could do is babble. Felicity face-palmed in shame and looked back at him. She saw a smile lighting up his whole face and immediately she felt warm inside. A reflection of light caught her out of the corner of her eye. Following it Felicity gasped, a figure on the rooftops was aiming a gun at The Arrow. She turned to warn him but he was distracted, still laughing at her babbling. Running on pure instinct, Felicity threw herself at The Arrow, knocking them both to the ground to avoid the gunfire. Her arm felt on fire, the pain bringing tears to her eyes. She clutched the pain tightly wishing for it to stop and found her hand covered in blood. The warm liquid was rapidly spreading on her top.

Sara and Roy charged over at the sight of the pair falling to the ground. Scanning the rooftops The Arrow quickly realised that the gunman had vanished and it would be too late to catch him. He cradled the brave girl in his arms trying to sooth the pain. 'Call an ambulance, now!' He shouted at Roy, he couldn't let anything happen to this girl. 'No. No please don't' Felicity mumbled through gritted teeth. 'Please he can't know I am here. No you can't. They can't know I am alive, please promise me you won't take me to hospital' panic started to rise in her voice as she looked up at the man cradling her with pleading eyes. Seeing the fear in her helpless eyes, The Arrow looked up towards the sky and vowed he would regret this. But by the time he looked down towards her, her sparkling blue eyes were shut and she had fallen unconscious once again.


	2. The Girl That Made Him Smile

Air pierced through her lungs as Felicity awoke with a jolt. The intense lighting blinded her vision as she tried to look around. Panic flowed through her as she remembered what had happened. A gentle hand touched her shoulder attempting to sooth her but she shook it off, terrified. Blinking her eyes rapidly, she could make out a slightly blurred green shape standing directly in front of her. Recognising it as The Arrow, Felicity let out a frightened gasp. 

'Here' the figure had something in his hand. Looking down, a feeling of comforted sunk in as she saw her glasses miraculously still in one piece. Returning them to her face, she frowned trying to figure out where she was. The memories came flooding back as she traced the red soaked bandage wrapped tightly around her arm with her fingers. Attempting to lift her arm, the girl winced despite it feeling like a dead weight. 

'We gave you something for the pain' his voice broke her train of thought as she stared at him. For the first time Felicity looked around the room taking in every detail from the cool stone floor to the hi-tec collection of computers. Lifting her head up she swivelled her body round so she was perched on the edge of a large metal table. 

As Felicity spoke her voice echoed off the tall concrete walls making her sound even more vulnerable; 'Please let me go'. Tears glistened in her eyes as she looked on in terror at the man.

Instinctively Oliver reached out towards the shivering girl. 'Don't worry it's ok. I ahem we just had to make sure you were alright.' The look of terror still clung to her face. 'Honestly, you are safe' he reinforced. A pang of guilt hit him; he had practically forced the others to bring the girl into the foundry and now she looked so frightened and fragile. The sight saddened him so without thinking Oliver wrapped his arms around the girl. Holding her, he ran his fingers through her silky, blond hair, trying to give her comfort. He held her against him until her trembling body slowly relaxed, sinking into his. Her warmth flooded through his body, creating a spark inside of him. He let her go and was left with a sharp coldness. Looking into her eyes he spoke; 'we took you to our base and patched you up after you had been hit. You have been out for a couple of hours' he quickly explained. 'Luckily the bullet only penetrated your arm. I have stitched you up but I think it would be best if you stayed here tonight; you've lost a lot of blood and were knocked out twice so we need to check you don't have any sort of head injury.' 

Felicity stared in disbelief at the warm-hearted man. She felt her bare feet touch on the cool floor and stood up, catching hold of The Arrow's arm for balance 'but w-where am I?' she stuttered.

'Like hell, we are going to tell you!' Felicity's attention was sharply brought to the other figures in the room. She had been so fixed on The Arrow she hadn't even noticed the others coming down the steps. 'Although I doubt you will make it out alive to tell anybody' the red hooded figure played with her. Immediately Felicity clutched hold of the Vigilante's arm and brought herself closer until their bodies made contact and his breath was warm against her skin. She knew it didn't make sense but just being in The Arrow's presence made her feel safe. She felt a reassuring squeeze on her shoulder and smiled as he whispered in her ear that the red hooded figure was joking.

...

Felicity was sitting on the metal table staring at the wall, lost in her own thoughts. The other three had given up attempting to talk to her hours ago so it was only her and The Arrow left in the room. He had stopped pacing the floor and was now repeatedly tapping his pen on the computer filled desk. She watched with curiosity at his movements, and as The Arrow glanced towards her their eyes made contact for a brief moment. The Arrow stood up slowly and began making his way towards her. Maybe now the others had gone she would be more willing to talk he pondered. He thought back to her fear of the person finding her and wondered what a vulnerable girl like her could have done to get into that much trouble. 'What's your name?' he asked, approaching the girl. 

Felicity's lips parted to answer but quickly shut again as she changed her mind. She broke eye contact and tried to look through him but ended up focusing on his body as it was blocking her view of the wall. The Arrow let out a frustrated sighed and moved towards the door. A feeling of panic rose in her. She had spent the majority of her life on her own but with everything that had happened she couldn't bear the thought of being in solitary in her unknown surroundings. 'Meghan' Felicity mumbled causing The Arrow to hesitate in his tracks. 'My name is Meghan' she repeated more confidently now. 

Meghan, Oliver turned over the name in his mind. 'And do you have a last name Meghan?' his face displaying a friendly smile. The girl froze, frantically looking around the room until her eyes settled on the wall opposite. 'It's umm... Wall. Yeh, Meghan Wall.'

'Wall?' Oliver asked dubiously confused at her obvious lie.

'Urrr yeh ... it's umm... spelt with an 'e' you know, cos' otherwise it would just be a wall not a surname and of course my name is a surname, I come from a very long line of walls...' Oliver broke her rambling, a let out a chuckle; 'like the robot?' Oliver teased. Once the words left his mouth he immediately regretted them. The last thing he wanted was the girl to feel uncomfortable again. 

A smile broke her expression, lighting up her eyes; 'Ok you got me, Meghan's not my real name'.

'It's fine, I mean I haven't exactly told you mine! So anyway, what were you doing in the building?' Oliver chatted. But Felicity stiffened and her smile vanished at the mention of the building. Noticing this, Oliver pulled himself up onto the table next to her and quickly changed the topic; 'doesn't matter, so how's your arm?'.

Before Oliver realised it was already three in the morning and Felicity had drifted off, resting her delicate head on his shoulder. He placed his arms underneath her, parallel to what he did when he first laid his eyes on her, and carried her to the old mattress he keeps in the foundry for when he can't face his family. He watched her tiny body sink into the mattress and lay down on the floor near to her. A smile formed on him as he watched her chest rise and fall rhythmically, she looked so tender and peaceful lying alone. His eyelids started to feel heavy and for once without fighting, he let them close. For the first time in months he went to sleep smiling, unfearful for the nightmares that usually haunted him.

...

When Oliver opened his eyes, the girl that made him smile was no longer in his sight. Sitting up with a jolt, his eyes searched the foundry frantically until he was drawn to a rustling sound of something under the computer table. He wandered over curiously and stood towering over the table, 'What are you doing?' his voice came out sharper than he meant. 

The small blond crawled out from underneath, clutching a frayed wire in her hand. 'I'm sorry I couldn't sleep and you had just abandoned her. All she needed was for a couple of faulty wires to be fixed'. A bewildered look spread over Oliver's face followed by a small smile playing on the corner of his lips when he realised she was referring to the computer. He opened his mouth unsure of what to say but was broken off by the sound of footsteps coming into the foundry. 

The three figures from the night before arrived in full costume presumingly because Felicity was there and they had to keep their identities hidden from her. The Arrow walked over to them and soon they were in deep conversation. Noticing a red glare of light reflected in Sara's eye, Oliver searched to find the source. His eyes located a flashing red light on Roy's leg. Oliver felt adrenaline rush through him and was immediately on his toes, ready to react. He ripped the device from Roy's leg and examined it quickly. Dismay filled him 'you were bugged', he threw the device on the ground and repeatedly stamped on it until small metallic pieces littered the floor. 'That was a GPS tracking device' A tone of worry struck the girl in blacks voice and the others glanced around in panic, unsure on what to do next.

Without thinking, Felicity moved over to the computers. She felt the familiar pleasure as her fingers swept across the keys. Her hands flew across the keyboard, typing away, lost in her own world and before the others had time to react she stood up. 'The device was activated by a remote signal. I traced it back to its original source and wiped their systems of all information on our location. But the bad news is that the original source came from somewhere inside this building, they must have been tracking you for a while'. The Arrow's jaw dropped as he stared at the girl in amazement. The others reacted, charging up the steps and out the foundry to take care of the unwelcome guests.

Suddenly the door blew open from above and all Felicity could do was watch from behind a cabinet as The Arrow took out his opponents skilfully, dropping each to the ground. A hand grabbed her from behind and Felicity fell to the floor, tasting a trail of blood run down her lips. Distracted by her safety, The Arrow flipped over the metal table and flung it violently against his opponent, smashing him against the wall where he repeatedly kicked the man until he fell unconscious. Oliver was so lost in his anger of the man hurting the girl that made him smile that he didn't notice another man coming from behind. 

The man knocked The Arrow painfully to the ground, his gun aimed towards Oliver's head. Tears pricked Felicity's eyes and she desperately tried to blink them away. Searching the room frantically she felt a surge of hope spotting a blood speckled gun lying next to the unconscious man's hand. Reaching her arm out, Felicity grasped the gun, her hand violently shaking and she aimed for The Arrow's attacker. Trying to steady her breath she fired. The bullet left the gun and found its way to the man's chest whilst Felicity screwed her eyes shut in desperate hope. She watched in disbelief at the man clutching his side and howling in pain and she watched as he stumbled to the ground and fell unconscious. 

The Arrow pulled himself upwards and in all the mess helped the terrified and shocked girl to her feet. The computer screens and desk lay smashed into a million pieces of glass, metal and ruined paper littering the floor. The Arrow didn't care; 'That's the second time you have saved my life'. His gaze drifted to the girl that made him smile and their eyes met. He slowly reached upwards and pulled his hood back in one swift motion, revealing himself. He peeled the green mask off his sweaty face and held out a hand. 'I'm Oliver Queen' he let a grin break onto his face as he spoke. In the midst of the chaos the girl took his hand; 'Felicity Smoak' she smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for all your amazing support! I'm really glad you are all enjoying the story so far. Please let me know what you think :)


	3. Safe

Leaning in to place a gentle kiss on Oliver's cheek Felicity said her goodbyes. It had taken her half an hour to eventually persuade Oliver to let her walk home by herself. Felicity stepped outside the club and sighed, seeing the drizzle in the cool air. Darkness was setting in quickly and a small breeze caused her to tighten the over sized coat The Arrow had lent her. Glancing back at the club she caught Oliver still standing in the doorway oblivious to the rain. Giving a final wave, she headed aimlessly in the direction of the Glades to begin her continuous walk.

As the night air grew colder, Felicity hurried through alley ways desperately searching for somewhere to rest. As her blinking washed away the threatening tears in her eyes she thought back to her old home. It wasn't really a home but it had taken her months to find someplace dry and abandoned. She never thought she would say this but she missed watching the monotonous grey drips run down the walls and the dim lanterns flickering light. She couldn't go back, the building and her belongings were destroyed in the explosion and although it wasn't much she felt lost without them.

She had been walking for hours now and her sore feet pained her with every step. Felicity began to slow, walking in a somnambulatory state with barely enough energy to remain awake. She focused on putting one foot after another and remained deep in thought. Ever since she found out that the vigilante was Oliver Queen she had been scrounging her brains to find out why she recognised the name. It wasn't like she had access to the news or even internet and she couldn't exactly wander over to the other side of the city just to search his name. She had fixed one of the faulty computers at the tech shop a couple of blocks from the abandoned building where she had lived, so every now and again the owner would turn his back and let Felicity use the computers at her will. But she was at least a day's walk from there. Felicity hated the Glades, honestly she was frightened to be there but it was the only place people like her could go; people who had nothing. Finding the first dry doorstep, she collapsed to the floor; her body slumped at her feet. The exhaustion took over her, driving away her fear as her eyelids started to close.

'Hey what have we got here?' Felicity must have only been asleep a couple of minutes before she was woken by a sharp pain in her side. 'She's kinda cute I guess. Hey wake up!' a disorientated Felicity winced as the rowdy gang of drunken boys continued to kick her. But she was too worn out to move so took the kicks and lay still. The boldest group member grabbed Felicity by the collar and lifted her up shaking her to get a reaction. Felicity tried to defend herself but all her energy had escaped her. The motivation to survive had been stripped from her. The only glimmer of hope in the darkness was when she met The Arrow, but now he was gone and soon wouldn't even remember her name. What is the point? She asked herself. Does it really matter if they kill me? What have I got left to lose? So there Felicity stayed, unmoving as the group threw her about, laughing at her till she was numb to the pain. Tears threatened so she let them run down her face. Taking a deep breath Felicity closed her eyes, not wanting to see what they were going to do and hoping it would soon all be over. The thought made her smile, soon she would be free, she would never be on the run again. She wouldn't be jumping at the slightest of noises, wouldn't be haunted by memories when she slept and she wouldn't have to live in constant fear of him finding her. She was ready to die.

The sound of something cutting through the air fizzled into the night and before she knew it, Felicity was thrown to the floor. Her arm scraped against the damp ground, tearing out her stitches. The sound of the men grunting in pain rang throughout the night but Felicity was too weak to move, too exhausted to lift her heavy eyelids. She could hear the men dropping to the floor one by one but even still Felicity did not open her eyes. Even when two muscular arms lifted her trembling body effortlessly up and a familiar voice started calling her name, she still kept her eyes locked tight. Felicity couldn't bear herself to look around and face the world, she was too ashamed that she had given up so easily and still too terrified that she was seconds away from death and was actually happy about it. So she stayed cuddled up in his strong arms, her head resting against his chest letting the tears dribble out from her eyes. She felt his hand stroking her hair and melted into his arms. For the first time in a long while she finally felt safe; The Arrow had looked over her like a guardian angel saving her not once but twice now.

Felicity woke up to rays of light bouncing around the room happily. She had no idea where she was but felt safe, it was weird like a feeling in the pit of her stomach. The last thing she remembered was being in The Arrows arms so she must have drifted off. Sitting up slowly, Felicity winced. She lifted up the t-shirt that swamped her and gasped at her purple and yellow covered ribcage. Felicity examined her clothes in detail, quickly realising that they were male. Her blood soaked, filthy clothes were nowhere to be seen so she came to the conclusion that somebody must have dressed her. Strangely she was not covered in dirt or blood presumably the same person must have washed her too. Felicity guessed that it was The Arrow but even her hair remained fresh and untangled so he must have been very thorough. Clutching her side painfully, she tried to stand up, her bare feet being met by a pair of fresh cotton slippers. Making the bed perfectly behind her, Felicity made her way over to the back of the door and wrapped the soft, fluffy dressing gown around her, taking in its warmth. She didn't care if she wasn't taken by The Arrow and she was in danger, this life was luxury to her. Felicity glanced around the room, unsure whether to go outside or not. Looking down, her eyes landed on a slip of torn out paper. She opened out the fold and began to read.

_Hey Felicity this is Oliver,_

_I didn't know when you would be awake so I decided to write this letter. Don't panic you are safe! You passed out after what happened yesterday and you were so exhausted I took you back here to my mansion and put you to bed in one the spare bedrooms. When you are ready just give my door a knock so I can talk to you._

_P.S. My room is three doors down to your left_

_See you soon_

_Oliver xxx_

Mansion? Something clicked in Felicity's head. Of course! That's where she had heard the name before. Oliver Queen was the billionaire Oliver Queen. Wow! Felicity thought, I'm hanging out with a billionaire! A homeless girl who can't even afford food and is on the run is hanging out with a billionaire who just happens to be The Arrow! Shaking her head in amazement, Felicity opened the door and plodded down the corridor towards what she hoped was Oliver's room. The second her knuckles touched the door Oliver opened it as if he had been waiting for her, startling the confused girl.

'Hey' Oliver smiled but his smile soon disappeared as he raced over to Felicity, taking her weight. Oliver could see the pain in her eyes as she clutched her side. 'I think you might have a broken rib or two or best case scenario they are just bruised. I know someone who can check them out' 'I remember, no hospitals!' Oliver quickly added, as he saw Felicity start to protest. He led the girl over to his bed, supporting her weight, and perched on the end. Oliver helped pull her up so she had her back against the wall and gently placed a pillow behind her to minimise the pain.

Leaving the room briefly, he went to look for something to eat for breakfast and when he returned, Felicity was gazing around his room in awe. Oliver sat down beside her and watched, smiling as she demolished the toast in a matter of seconds. He went about rummaging through his draws, searching for something for the girl to wear. He thought of getting something of Thea's but he knew his sister was very particular about her clothes and judging by his still visible scar from last time he messed up her things, he thought it would just be easier to give Felicity something of his.

The story made Felicity giggle and she gave a smile that lit up her entire face. Oliver noted that she had the sort of bubbly laugh that could light up a room and was impossible not to smile at. Oliver knew he was useless with clothes but he wanted to give her something perfect. His eyes caught on his sea-blue jumper and he pulled it out. Memories flooded back at the touch of his favourite top. It was the top he had worn to the first football game his dad had taken him to. Growing up, his father had never really been a dad to him, the maids looked after him when he was ill and took him to school. Sure his dad paid the bills but he was always too busy at work to have time for him. A few weeks into college him and his high-school girlfriend; Laurel had broken up again and Oliver was in a really bad place. Seeing him like this his dad had cancelled his meetings at QC for the day and picked Oliver up at college. After making him promise not to tell his mother, his dad took him to a football game. Oliver smiled, remembering how he had kept his hand on his shoulder the entire game; it was the first real father-son moment they shared. But now his father had gone, and his memories of him were all Oliver had left. Walking over to Felicity he handed her the jumper and a pair of plain jogging bottoms and helped her to the bathroom.

Oliver didn't know what possessed him to give the stranger his favourite top but when she returned from the bathroom he smiled. Just as he had thought, the colour made her crystal blue eyes sparkle. Raiding Thea's bedroom for a hair bobble, he tried not to stare as Felicity scooped up her flowing blond hair into a perfect ponytail. The sound of his phone buzzing brought him back to reality. Felicity watched, trying to figure out what was going on at the sight of Oliver's face paling. The next thing she knew, Oliver was herding her into the car and they were on their way to the foundry.

Oliver was practically taking all Felicity's weight by the time they reached the last step. Despite the fact that she had taken many pain killers, her side still hurt when she moved. The pair were met by Sara and Dig's grim faces. Felicity's heart stopped, thinking that they had found out who she was and the danger that surrounded her. 'Oliver its bad news, Detective Lance called and he showed us this' Dig gestured at the news report on the screen. Felicity watched in horror as the colour drained from Oliver's face as he read the screen. 'Detective Lance has been keeping track of the rising terrorist attacks nearby and it looks like they are getting closer to Starling City. They just hit Coast City and he thinks we are next' Diggle panicked.

'Who are they and what do they want?' The Arrow responded quickly, and started to type away frantically at the computer. 'Oliver, I have phoned Laurel and asked her to spend the next week or so outside Starling, I think you should do the same for Thea.' Sara's news hit Oliver hard.

'No! We will stop them I don't know how but we will' Oliver fired at her.

'That's the point! We don't know how! Hey listen to me. I have come across these people before...' the statement made Oliver's eyebrows rise but he knew better than to question Sara. 'They call themselves The Reaper Brothers, they move across city to city terrorising it until there is nothing left , then they move onto the next place. What makes them dangerous is that this is a game to them, they don't care who gets hurt and the more people that do, the more fun they have. From what I have heard, The Reaper Brothers are rivals, each plotting terrorist attacks trying to beat the number of kills the other caused.' Sara grimaced, the shock on the team's faces mirrored Felicity's as they tried to process the information.

'Can't we predict where they will attack?' Oliver questioned, a spring of hope in his voice.

'That's the thing, the attacks happen simultaneously set up in advance to the attack, there is no way of telling where they will strike first.' Sara grimly replied. 'The only thing we can do is wait and be ready to fight'. Admitting temporary defeat the team slowly nodded. 'I don't know if it will be much help but I can set up facial recognition. I know they are experts so probably won't be caught out by a traffic camera or something but I can set it up just in case they get careless?' It was the first time Sara had properly looked at the blonde and she nodded her approval, shrugging; 'it can't hurt'.

'Felicity, you are going to drive yourself crazy staring at the screen all day, if something pops up we will hear it!' Oliver yelled from across the mat. Aside from the potential terrorist threat, today had been different for Felicity and she had liked it. The team had spent all day training in the foundry with Felicity monitoring the computer. She felt at home, happily humming whilst tapping away at her computers. She told herself not to get too attached but after rebuilding them due to the attack from the night before, Felicity had already named the computers as her babies. Roy had arrived in the foundry too after finding out the news but was soon back to his sarcastic self. He had spent the afternoon complaining jokingly about the training Oliver was making him do. By now he had expended every possible excuse to stop training and had resorted to teasing Oliver about his feelings for Felicity. Oliver's reactions to his jokes brought a smile to Felicity's face and for once her past had left her mind and she was happy. She was safe.

Sipping from her glass, Felicity sat back in the cosy, cushioned chair and watched the team training; her eyes focused solely on The Arrow. The group were practising combat drills and Sara was teaching Roy different slips and throws. Diggle and Oliver were watching from the sidelines cracking up laughing at Roy's pathetic attempts. Every time Roy had Sara in a clinch she would easily slip under his arms and sweep him and as Felicity could see, Roy wasn't exactly the best at break falling! The smile never left Felicity's face for the whole of the afternoon and it was only when the others started to leave that she noticed the time. After helping clear away the training equipment with Oliver, he suddenly came up to her and sat on the table. Resting his hand on his chin, his intense blue eyes looked into hers, causing Felicity's stomach to flutter.

'I can tell you don't want to talk about yesterday and what you were doing there but just know you can stay at mine however long you need. It's not like we don't have the space' Oliver placed his hand on her shoulder in comfort.

'Thanks' Felicity blushed; 'not just for that and for saving me twice now but for not giving up. Most people after seeing me in a state like that would just carry on walking and not even glance at me or if they are feeling particularly generous had over a couple of dollars. But you took me in, giving me a purpose and not only that but you trusted me with your secret. I don't want to make this any longer or I will start to babble and ruin the moment. You know not that there is a moment here or anything I mean obviously there is a physical moment but not a lovey dovey one or anything...' Oliver gently squeezed her shoulder, a smile appearing on his face.

'I just wanted to say thank you' Felicity finished. The Arrow teased a smile, absorbing everything about the girl. He filled with joy at the sight of her so happy. 'What?' she questioned him.

'Nothing' Oliver replied, looking to the ground.

'No c'mon tell me' Felicity gave him a playful shove.

'It's just ... I know I haven't known you long but it's nice to see you happy.' The compliment caused Felicity to blush deeply. Her mouth formed a perfect 'o' shape and her eyes sparkled. It was true Felicity thought. Before meeting Oliver, she hadn't laughed in a long time. The Arrow had done more than make her feel happy, he had made her feel safe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The response to this story has been amazing so far, thank you all so much for all your comments!! I hope you like this chapter and as always please let me know what you think :)


	4. Flames

_The thick grey smoke drowned Felicity's lungs. She felt like she was coughing up her insides whilst struggling to breath underwater. It was hopeless. The flames fingers scratched her, tearing at her skin. The heat torched her clothes and her vision became darkened. She freed her bleeding wrists from the ties and staggered towards the window. The sound of crushing bone mixed with the shattering of glass became a distant sound as parts of the ceiling began to collapse. The world was falling in on Felicity, the sky turning black. Still, struggling to breath she clutched her broken arm and began to climb through the_ _demolished window. Her clothes tore across the shards of glass and her bleeding hands and legs throbbed in pain. Terror rang through her, apparent in every movement she made. Struggling to move, her body became wedged in the small window. She was stuck. Black dots formed in her vision before the cool air could hit her. Sweat stuck her clothes to her body which was now violently shaking. This was it she thought. This was how her life would end._

Oliver jolted upwards, startled. Leaping out of bed he positioned his body ready for the attacker. Frantically searching the room his ears pricked to the sound of a girl's screams. Recognising it as Felicity's, Oliver lurched forward, swinging the door open. He raced across the corridor panic flowing through him as he crashed into the wall, still disorientated from his sleep. Flinging open the door to Felicity's room with a force that made the whole mansion vibrate, his eyes lay on the frightened girl. Felicity was hunched in the corner of the room, pressing her back into the wall. Even with her hands covering her face, Oliver could clearly make out the tears streaming down her face. His throat hurt, forcing back a sob as he watched the helpless girl scream, terrified for her life. Rushing to her side, Oliver placed his hand onto the shoulder of the violently shaking girl. Felicity pushed away Oliver's hand with a force so strong it made him topple over. Terror sliced her eyes as she scrambled backwards, further into the wall, trying to get away from him. Oliver bit back another tear as Felicity curled into a ball, rocking herself backwards and forwards, screaming for somebody to help her. Holding his breath in hope that his method would work, Oliver wrapped his arms securely around her body. Gripping onto her he winced as she struggled to get out of his grasp, hitting and kicking at him. Her eyes wild with panic saw him as a monster, and her frantic screams grew louder. No matter how much she struggled and hurt him, Oliver kept his arms locked around her. They stayed in this position until he felt her body begin to relax and soon she was limp in his arms. Once he was sure she had calmed down and fallen back asleep he picked up her body and paced over towards her bed. Fire soared through him as he tucked the covers around her, his hand falling against the curves of her body. Retracting it quickly at the sudden fluttering in his stomach, he turned towards the door. The words Felicity muttered caught in his throat; 'please don't leave me alone'. Oliver stood by her bed, unsure what to do. Eventually he gave into his temptations and gently pushed back the covers. He rearranged the pillows and leaned his back against the wall, sitting next to her in bed. It took all of his strength to avoid looking at the girl, trying to get rid of this tingling he was feeling. Felicity moaned gently in her sleep rolling over. Her head landed on Oliver's lap as he desperately tried to ignore his feelings towards this girl. Oliver was left helpless as his whole body fell on fire, her bare skin touching his. He became very conscious that he was only in his boxer shorts and bit his lip as strands of her hair gently brushed against his chest. Licking his throbbing lips he tasted blood and quickly realized that through the struggle, Felicity had cut open his lip. Oliver sat there for hours, feeling her chest rise up and down calmly, soothing her when her sleep became restless.

It was in the early hours of the morning as Oliver drifted to, cursing himself for dozing off. Rays of soft sunshine shone through the gaps in the heavy curtains, warming up the room. Gently lifting Felicity's head from his lap, he snuck out of the room, afraid of waking her up. Judging by the panicked state she was in last night, he doubted she would remember asking him to stay. So Oliver silently closed the door behind him, sighing at the sight of her sleeping so peacefully.

Felicity's gaze caught Oliver's eye, he had been silent the entire car ride to the foundry. She gaped at his cut, swollen and bloodied lip. The dark colour of rings under his eyes stood against his pale skin. Felicity had tried to ask Oliver where he had got his lip from but he had just shrugged her off. Looking at the person sitting next to her, Felicity felt sympathy. He looked worn out, a shadow of his former self. Before Oliver had the chance to punch in the code for the foundry door, it slid open causing both Felicity and Oliver to jump backwards in alarm. A red hoody grabbed Felicity's arm, pulling her down the steps and over to the computers. 'It won't stop beeping. For God's sake PLEASE make it stop beeping! That noise is driving me insane! I am seconds away from smashing the thing.' Felicity winced at the potential threat to her babies but a rush of hope filled her as she saw what was on the screen. 'Yes! I cross-referenced everyone The Reaper Brothers have talked to in the last three months and left facial recognition scanning last night. And it look like we got a hit!' Pushing Roy aside so he was not within touching distance of her computers, Felicity began to frantically type away at the keys. 'Right' she started, pointing at the screen. Oliver knew her by now and started to expect a long line of computer jargon to come sprouting out of her mouth. Zoning out, he watched her facial expressions, smiling to himself at how passionate she got.

'Oi Oliver, what are you smiling at?! I just said Demartis was spotted in Starling City.' Felicity's sharp elbow in the ribs brought Oliver back to reality. 'Wait what? Who's Demartis?' Oliver stuttered, making a mental not to ever annoy Felicity. Dig and Roy smirked as he rubbed his side, a smug grin sat on Oliver's face as he eyed the two men. This reaction however, did not sit well with Felicity. Sighing angrily, she repeated; 'from the surveillance footage it looks like Demartis and The Reaper Brothers are working closely together. I have pinged his phone and am tracking his GPS'. Felicity leaned back in her chair and smiled proudly at Oliver; 'from the latest of his dodgy texts it looks like he is meeting someone tonight in the abandoned building off Welsh Street.' The blonde turned back to the computer screens, shaking her head jokingly at Oliver's ignorance.

'Great, well looks like The Arrow is going to be paying him a visit tonight' Oliver teased, trying to cover his awe of the blond.

'Dammit!' The sound of her fist banging against the table caused the others to jump in shock at her violent outburst. 'I have pulled up the building's blueprints and it looks like they have installed the KABA In-Sync deadbolt lock on virtually every door wired up to a bio-lock fingerprint reader'. The look of utter confusion on Oliver's face paralleled the rest of the team. 'It's a battery-operated electronic lock paired with an RFID key' Felicity continued, but after noticing the comical looks on their faces she paused. Sighing with frustration, she tried to explain again; 'basically you need to crack both locks at exactly the same time otherwise they will trigger an alarm, it's impossible for one person to break in alone. But the fingerprint reader is really Hi-Tec, I would need to psychically wire up my device to be able to break it. Maybe if I could re-write that computer algorithm that Barry gave me I mean he didn't really give it to me. It's a long story; I hacked his computer. Huh I guess it's not that long…'

'Haha! Aww you're still cute!' The group followed the voice to find Sara leaning against the railing on the top of the foundry steps. 'Is there any good news?' she chuckled shaking her head at the now crimson faced blonde's babbling.

'If we can hack one lock I can disengage every lock in the building' Felicity finished, trying to hide her burning cheeks. She had a habit of getting lost in her own thoughts which usually meant her getting side-tracked.

After many heated discussions planning out their strategy, the team finally agreed and started to split up. One by one the members disappeared with various excuses, agreeing to meet up again an hour before their plan was to take place. Before she knew it, Felicity was left alone with Oliver in the foundry. Noticing the others had left, Oliver gently leaned the bo staff he was using against the wall and made his way over to the girl. Oliver felt his emotions swirl and mix inside him, threatening to take over. He didn't know why but the idea of Felicity being in the field made him furious. He didn't want to express his concerns in front of the others as he knew there was no other way to break in but he couldn't help himself. Why should his girl be put at risk because of him? Oliver felt his cheeks redden as something unexplainable churned in the pit of his stomach realising he had just referred to Felicity as _his_ girl. Shaking the thoughts away he reached the blond, offering his smile to warm the tension. After making three false starts, Oliver gulped, he had no idea how to word this without the girl thinking he was overprotective and that there was something else going on. Felicity looked at him sympathetically, she reached upwards and gently squeezed his shoulder reassuringly. Oliver desperately tried to ignore the butterflies in his stomach as he felt her warm hand on his shoulder, he gave up trying to word his confession and blurted it out. Oliver didn't know how she would react, whether she would think it was weird he cared as they had only just met or whether she would be angry at him for being overprotective. Her reaction took Oliver by surprise. A smile lighting up her face, glints of happiness dancing in her eyes teasing him. 'No-one's ever cared about what happens to me before', Oliver stared helpless at the girl as he watched her high spirit crush around her. She was standing centimetres from him yet she was distant as distressing memories flooded through her. Oliver wanted to reach out and fight away whatever it was that made her look like her life wasn't worth living but he knew that he couldn't fight away her ghosts. 'Trust me Oliver, nothing will happen I will be perfectly fine' she said reassuring him.

Oliver held his breath, he knew it was stupid but he had lost so many people, he couldn't think how he would carry on if he lost this girl. 'But what if it does?' Dread filled his gut as he waited for a reply. Felicity caught his eye and responded quietly; 'Then it doesn't matter. I was no-one before so it doesn't make any difference what happens to me. It just means there will be one less stranger roaming the streets picking up others leftovers to survive. If something happens and I die there, then at least I die doing something good'. Horror flushed through Oliver at the sound of her words, each tearing at the girls wound, bring her closer and closer to the ground. Without thinking, Oliver wrapped his arms around the girl's waist and stayed there, not wanting to let her go. 'Don't you dare say that again Felicity. You do mean something, maybe not to those who were around you before. But you mean so much to me. I know I have only known you for a few days but it feels like a lifetime. You are the only person who has made me smile genuinely since the island. I know it sound cheesy but you brought back the light in my life which I thought I wouldn't feel again since the island.' The weight of Oliver's confession dug at him but he didn't care. The pain of seeing her so broke pained him. She nuzzled her face into his chest so that the sound of his heart beating rhythmically was all she could hear. She filled her hand with the soft material of his shirt and smiled at his words through her tears. Breaking apart, Oliver tried to return the conversation to normal in order to drown his longing to kiss her. 'Will you at least train with me so I know you can handle yourself if something were to happen?' Oliver started to make his way towards the matting at the brief nod of Felicity's head.

Hours went by timelessly and when the others returned they were confronted with a strange sound they had never heard before. Oliver was laughing. Roy's eyebrows rose, giving Sara and Dig a look that could have meant a thousand things. It wasn't just a small chuckle like they had heard him use in reaction to Felicity's babbling. Curiously, the three figures slowly stepped down the foundry steps. Sara gasped quietly at the sight, Roy's eyebrows rose even higher and a huge grin broke onto Dig's face. Oliver was doubled over, wheezing for breath, since the island he had never cried in front of anyone yet tears streamed down his face. His body was desperately trying to entrap oxygen but he was too busy clutching at his side laughing at the fiercely blushing girl in front of him. Despite the girls embarrassment the smile alighting her face could not be broken. Reaching towards The Arrow's shoulder, Felicity jokingly nudged him to stop. The group observed the interaction with wide eyes. The pair were standing central on the training mats, Felicity dressed in an over-sized top and shorts, presuming Oliver's. Oliver straightened up, the smile permanently painted on his face and the duo went back to training. Oliver threw controlled punches towards the girl as she ducked and moved her body weight and position to avoid the attacks. The trio could clearly see that Felicity didn't have the best coordination and was not used to drilled footwork. She stumbled over Oliver's feet, tripping over, her arms flailed about alarmingly and the look of quick fear spread through her expression. Oliver quickly dived forward, throwing himself onto the floor to catch the falling girl. Felicity landed heavily on his chest, her body sinking into his. She blushed furiously, her heart pounding into her eardrums. Her body fell on fire as she felt Oliver's sweaty chest underneath her hands. Their eyes drawn to each other, lost in the moment his gaze followed the girl's lips as she moistened them lightly. A hot flush erupted through his body, aching to move even closer to the girl. The sound of somebody clearing their throat made Oliver's body stiffen as he realised the others had returned. Quickly breaking apart, he pulled the girl effortlessly off the ground. Stepping backwards, Oliver tried to put distance between himself and Felicity, to calm down the intense heat flowing through his body. Oliver brushed himself down to give his hands something to do as he walked over to the others. Eyeing the duo, Sara began to speak; 'So are we ready for tonight?' she asked still trying to break the tension. 'Yep, umm... I have packed what we need here I think we are ready to go' Oliver held up a plain black sports bag. Reaching for his Arrow suit, Oliver led the way out of the foundry, putting more distance between him and Felicity.

'So how did training with Oliver work out?' Roy, Oliver and Sara had gone to check out the parameter and take out any guards around the place, leaving just Dig and Felicity in the car. 'It was alright' Felicity chatted back awkwardly, she hadn't held a conversation alone with anyone other than Oliver in the team.

'Just alright? It looked like you two were rather enjoying yourselves!' Dig chuckled under his breath.

Felicity began to blush for the third time that day 'He wouldn't let me throw any punches or do any attacks, I just had to block constantly which is nowhere near as fun if you ask me. I lived on the streets in the Glades, I can handle myself pretty well but no, he still wouldn't let me attack. I swear I was going to hit him if he said defence is the best form of attack one more time!' Dig laughed at the girl's statement, shaking his head softly at the similarities between her and Oliver; patience was never one of Oliver's best qualities. Dig's smile soon vanished as he recognised the signal from Roy. 'Looks like you're up next Felicity'.

It had taken Felicity two minutes thirty seconds to sneak into the building and reach Oliver on the third floor; exactly as planned. Hearing the sharp intake of breath Oliver grabbed the girl's wrist tightly, pulling her back into the shadows. Spotting an alcove in the wall he pushed Felicity into it, his body pressed up against hers and his hand covering her mouth trying to silent her gasp of surprise. The pair watched silently as a uniformed guard walked just steps away from them. Terror rung through her body, if they were caught now the mission would be done for and what was stopping The Reaper Brothers setting off the bomb trail now? A wave of emotions flooded through her; the feelings she was getting from the proximity of Oliver's body and the fear of being caught. Oliver carefully removed his hand from her mouth, ignoring the moist marks her lips had left on his palm. Placing his hand at his side it brushed against her thigh, he tried to retract it but in the tight space he was limited to places, so he left it awkwardly resting against her outer leg. Felicity knew they were in danger yet all her mind think about was his hand pressed against her leg. Oliver looked up trying to distract himself from his hand position, but this was even worse. His eyes rested on hers, blue against blue. Their faces were centimetres away, their lips a hairs width apart. Oliver resisted the urge to just grab and kiss this girl. He struggled, fighting the urges in his body. His lips parted, Felicity's eyes followed them in a trance, trying to work out what he was going to do. 'I think the guards gone now' his warm breath fell against her skin, her stomach twisting into knots. They stayed in that position, not wanting to move, it was only Dig's voice on their earpieces that finally tore their bodies apart.

Gulping, Felicity told her mind to focus as she worked her magic on the locks to the main frame's room. Her hands were trembling but not from fear but from the intense moment with Oliver. Finally breaking through Oliver instinctively took Felicity's hand and guided her through the room. Realising he had taken her hand, Oliver quickly dropped it, pretending it had never happened. Suddenly the door slid shut and electronically locked behind them. Noticing a small red flashing light reflected off the plastic desk chair Oliver kneeled on the floor beside it glancing under the table, to search for what was causing it. He stumbled back abruptly, grabbing onto Felicity in panic. 'It's a trap, the computer is wired up to a bomb'. Dread flooded through Oliver as they rushed back towards the door. Felicity furiously tapped away at her tablet connected to the door, her hands violently shaking and her vision blurred but it was no use. 'Oliver I can't do it! Somebody's blocking my hack!' Dread pulled at Felicity again, fear making her dizzy. Reacting purely on instincts, Oliver pushed over the heavy metal computer desk and pulled it in front of the door. Pushing the trembling blond down with him, Oliver wrapped his arms around the girl, her head sinking into his chest. They braced behind the table and waited for certain death.

'OLIVER! OLIVER PLEASE ANSWER ME!' the sound of Dig's pounding voice woke Oliver with a start. Oliver pushed himself up onto his elbows painfully and looked at the wreckage of the room. His vision was disorientated and the ringing in his ears drummed through his skull. The moments seemed to play in slow motion, the sparks flying off the computer monitors. The light half hanging from the ceiling creaked and Oliver watched helplessly as it crashed to the ground, sending flames up to engulf the ceiling. The heat of the explosion tore at Oliver's skin, the air becoming a dead weight, thick with dust. Blinking away the blurriness the room became alive with oranges and yellows licking away destructively at the wall. 'I'm fine Dig there's no visible injuries on Felicity but she is still out cold' Oliver quickly explained whilst attempting to stay calm and plot their escape route. Pressing his hand into the burning wall for support, Oliver hauled himself into a standing position. Grunting in pain he searched the room for a window or breakable glass but found none. The only way out was the way they came in but it all depending on whether Felicity's IT skills were better than whoever had set up the trap.

Felicity could feel her body burning, the heat piercing her skin. The smoke coated her lungs and the flame's brightness burning against her eyes. Sweat poured through her clothes as she awoke. Taking one look around her, panic ate at Felicity; she had awoken in her nightmare, the worst memory she had. _She screamed until her lungs fell raw, she thrashed her arms about trying to escape her nightmare. Tears blurred her vision and the air in the room had disappeared. She clawed at the man in front of her, fighting for her life. He had already caused her so much pain and he was here to kill her for seeing too much. It didn't seem to matter to the dark shadow leaning over her that he was her father. 'Please don't hurt me I promise I won't tell' she whimpered under her breath. Fear took over, beating her to the ground each kick and blow reinforcing the fact that she would not make it out alive. The figure loomed over her, placing his icy hand on her shoulder. His hand gently pushed back strands of loose blond hair from her face and he smiled sickeningly at her suffering._

Felicity pushed Oliver away as she began to shake uncontrollably, panic running across her eyes. Oliver watched, frightened, as the girl struggled for breath, murmuring desperate pleas of help.

_The silhouette slowly ran the blade of a bloodied knife along_ _her cheek following down her neck till he reached her dress, leaving a trail of red where it sliced her delicate skin. Felicity let out a whimper of terror causing the man to violently slam the knife into her thigh. The unbearable pain erupted through her, burning her leg. 'That's what you get for being weak' the man smirked at her, taking joy in pulling the knife out of her leg and watching the oozing lava fall onto the floor beside her. Placing a light kiss on her forehead he fastened the plastic ties on her wrists until they drew blood. He reached to her ponytail and pulled out the pink bobble along with several strands of her hair. He adjusted her beach blond curls around her face and smiled; 'there much prettier'. He aggressively pulled her chin so that her face was facing his and dug the knife threateningly against her neck; 'YOU LOOK AT ME WHEN I AM TALKING TO YOU YOUNG LADY' he screamed, saliva plastering Felicity's face. Her body was now shaking and tears erupted from her eyes, fear drowning her as she fought for breath._

Oliver didn't know what to do. He explained the situation to Dig and they had guessed she was having a severe panic attack but it was much worse than any Oliver had had from the island. Judging by her words that Oliver could make out, it seemed that she was afraid of the same thing that haunted her at night. Leaning over the terrified girl, Oliver tried to calm her down but she didn't recognise him. Any time he tried to touch her she would react even worse and Oliver really didn't know what to do. He called to her but she was distant, acting as if she was not even awake or in her own body. If he could get Felicity to realise that it was him in front of her then he should be able to get her to calm down. But Oliver couldn't get close enough to her and he was terrified at the girl's pain. Gulping away his fear, Oliver tried to work on basic instinct, it was what had worked on the island and had never failed him before. Fighting away her attacking arms he plunged his lips into hers. The breath escaped him as he realised the awfulness of this plan. Flames scorched inside his body and the explosion seemed a world away. He cupped her cheek slightly and saw that as soon as their lips touched she had frozen. Pushing the kiss deeper he smiled, seeing her body start to relax slightly. Another light crashed down into a filing cabinet, causing the two to break their short kiss apart. It seemed to work as Felicity jumped upwards, falling completely out of her trance and started frantically typing away at her tablet. Her frightened self had vanished without a trace, leaving the Felicity that he knew behind. It took her only a minute as Oliver watched the new determination in her eyes take control. The damaged door clicked open and Oliver rushed over to help pull it open. Relief washed over him as he noticed Sara and Roy the other side of the electronic door. Together the team managed to haul the door open and escape the burning room. Felicity collapsed in exhaustion but Oliver managed to catch her falling body before her head crashed against the ground. Oliver carried her lifeless body in his arms as the team walked away from the flames.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Ok so I did not plan their kiss at all but as I was writing the scene, the Teen Wolf Stydia kiss kept replaying in my head so I had to put it in! As I didn't have a chance to upload a chapter yesterday I will upload another one today! Please let me know what you think :)


	5. Fear

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised two chapters in one day!  
> Also so it is easier to understand ITALICS = FLASHBACKS  
> Hope you enjoy :)

Felicity paced around the bedroom running her hand through her sleek blond hair. She had woken up in the foundry to Oliver looking over her in concern. Her body ached everywhere but after taking some form of blue pills the pain went away and she was left with a dull numbness. Her arms were soaked in deep burns that looked like they had torn and eaten away at the skin. She remembered the pain of Oliver's touch as he wrapped up her arms gracefully and the flicker of pity in his eyes at seeing her flinch in pain. The others had checked her over but she was fine just completely exhausted. It was like the energy had been sucked from her and she was left to carry on without it. Frustration flooded through her as her mind wandered back to the explosion. Why had she been so weak? What had gotten into her? Felicity bit back her anger. Why was she always portrayed as powerless when she was with Oliver?

Perching on the end of the bed she sighed, she had spent hours trying to get to sleep. As much as she needed it her body just wouldn't relax. Every time she felt her eyelids turn heavy and her vision started to darken panic would rip through her; memories of her past drowned her. Innocent shadows in the room became figures hiding from her, the simple creaking of the house's structure turned into attackers pacing the house. The howling wind became her screams of terror and the gentle bashing of branches against the window the sound of _him_ scratching at the glass trying to get to her. Blinking away her watery eyes she slowly padded downstairs. Felicity didn't want Oliver to see her weaker than he already thought she was but she couldn't stand to be alone.

Following the light chatter of maids she slumped into the large couch in the huge Living room. Wrapping the blanket round her tighter she glanced at the window in fear, she was just being paranoid she told herself. Felicity froze, noticing a small figure staring at her from the doorway. The silhouette stepped forward, the shadows leaving her face. The figure was a slim girl bright brown curls fell onto her shoulders and a curious grin spread across her face.

''Who are you?'' A feminine delicate voice asked, cocking her head to the side.

Looking at the girl Felicity quickly realised she wasn't a threat; ''umm I'm a friend of Oliver's'', she replied unsure how much of the truth she could tell her.

''Seriously?! I didn't think Oliver had any female friends! So you must be person using the guest room. I tried to ask him who you were but he's always in a mood these days so just grumbled something about it being a friend of his. I'm Thea by the way'' she chirped back, slumping down next to her.

Blinking, Felicity took in the girl's ridiculous amount of energy especially for this time of night. ''So... Do you have a name Oliver's first female friend?'' Thea looked expectantly at her raising her eyebrows at Felicity's hesitance.

''I'm just Oliver's little sister, I'm not a serial killer or anything you can tell me your name!'' Thea joked.

''Felicity Smoak'' she replied cautiously.

''So I'm guessing you couldn't sleep, well me neither; boy drama.'' Felicity watched the girl curiously as she made herself at home next to her, picking up the TV remote and began flicking, bored, through the channels.

Turning her head away Felicity subtly wiped away a stray tear but Thea saw straight away. Before the young girl could ask what was wrong a loud bang of metal crashing to the floor sounded. Jumping into the air, her body alert Felicity scanned the room, her eyes wild with panic. He had found her. The same thought looped in her mind. She threw herself into a corner beside the sofa and curled into a ball hoping the walls would swallow her. Her body started visibly shaking and tears strolled freely down her cheeks.

He had found her.

''Felicity!'' the young girl shrieked at her.

Thea placed her tiny hand on Felicity's shoulder only to frighten her further into the corner. ''Hey, it's ok Felicity, it was just one of the maids, she dropped a plate. Seriously are you ok?'' her voice was coated with worry as she stared at her in pity. Thea pulled her up into a hug soothing the trembling stranger. ''I'm guessing you don't want to talk about it so tell you what we can just watch bad TV or something.''

Felicity nodded silently a fake smile forming on her lips at the girl's kindness. 'OMG WE COULD HAVE A SLEEPOVER!' the sudden outburst made Felicity topple backwards in alarm.

As suddenly as the girl arrived she had disappeared again before quickly returning with a blanket her arms piled high with stacks of romantic, girly DVD's. A maid followed her in with a giant sized bowl of popcorn and a tray full of sugary snacks. Blinking in surprise Felicity couldn't believe how much her life had changed in the past week. Draping the blanket on top of Felicity's and over herself, excitement rippled off of the young girl.

''I never really got a chance to have a proper sleepover before, everyone was always too intimidated to come to the mansion and can you imagine Ollie agreeing to this?'' Thea chatted away, Felicity smiled she had never been in this situation before, it was a bit too much but she liked it. Growing up she had never had the chance to be girly or have many close friends or even just any friends. Appreciating the company, Thea snuggled up underneath the blanket so she was resting on Felicity. She began to chat away about her relationship with Roy, putting two and two together Felicity quickly realised Thea's Roy was the red hooded one at the lair.

When Oliver found them in the morning he witnessed Thea shrieking in horror at the fact that Felicity had never worn make-up and before she could protest, began plastering Felicity's face with the stuff. Announcing ''Ta Da'' Thea spun Felicity round to face Oliver. Taking in her appearance Oliver smiled; her tired, paled cheeks were now vibrant and full of colour, she had on a baby blue eye-shadow that sparkled in the light, her rosy lips now shining. Oliver had never seen Felicity look so beautiful before and the sight truly amazed him.

''Oi Ollie! Stop drooling I'm sure our friend here doesn't appreciate it'' Thea's response knocked Oliver out of his trance. Mumbling an excuse before the girls could see his blushing cheeks, he pulling Felicity away and out of the room.

When they had arrived at the arrow cave, Felicity quickly scanned the area, making sure they were alone. Finally plucking up the courage to ask Oliver, she cornered him, ''can I ask you something?''

Oliver's ears pricked, recognising the worry in her voice, he gestured for her to continue. ''This is going to come across weird but as I am sure you have noticed I have been really weak'' Felicity's eyes dropped to the ground embarrassed as she tried to pick the right words to speak. ''I have been jumping at even the smallest of things and I know it's stupid but I can't even close my eyes without panic setting in. I'm not normally like this I just want you to know. I don't want you to think I'm this weak pathetic person''.

Felicity continued to stare at the floor, tracing patterns with her feet until she felt Oliver's large hand cup her gently underneath her chin, bringing her gaze into his.

''Hey, you have nothing to be ashamed of. Everyone's scared of something, I am the same you know, I often have nights where I wake up in a panic with nightmares of the Island.'' Oliver opened up, sensing her confession had something to do with the man she said was after her.

''What do you do to stop the fear getting to you?'' she asked, delving further into his dark past.

Throwing a pile of clothes into her arms he grinned; ''I fight.''

Quickly tightening the waist of a pair of black shorts she happily ditched the tight dress that Thea had forced her to wear. She picked up the faded grey top and smiled; she had seen him wearing it the first morning she had woken up in the Queen mansion. Images of him sleeping peacefully in the top, as is rested against his bare chest intruded her mind as she clutched the material to her face, breathing in his musky scent.

The sharp knock on the door brought her to her senses as she slipped out, not before catching a glance at herself in the mirror and feeling a rush of warmth at the sight of his clothes on her. Oliver felt the exact same rush as he saw her, bring about a rare feeling in him. He chuckled seeing her angrily struggling to tie her hair back.

''Urrrgh I knew I shouldn't have let Thea put so much spray in my hair. It's gone all gross and knotty.'' Felicity began to complain, her hands talking in an animated manner.

Sitting Felicity down on the metal bench he took the hair tie from her hands. The second he ran his fingers through her silky hair he wished he hadn't. The tips of his fingers brushed against her warm scalp, erupting a fiery hunger, a desire to be even closer to her. Desperately trying to control it, he scraped her hair back into a messy ponytail and stepped away, hoping the cool air between them would calm him down.

Leading her towards the mat they began to gently spar with Oliver calling out techniques. Instantly she became clumsy, constantly tripping over her own feet and when she threw her punches they almost never even came close to the target, like she was purposely trying to not touch him. And yet she didn't even flinch when he caught her or countered her attacks.

Although Oliver was pulling his punches, she didn't even blink when his fist gently grazed her nose. Oliver was confused her technique was perfect, her stance was correct and she had her guard in the right place. He wouldn't admit it but her punches were faster than his, the speed of her techniques amazed him. He didn't understand, this girl must have spent years training in self-defence but for some reason she couldn't fight.

''Felicity ... '' he started, stepping back so her whole body was in his view; ''you have trained before'' he accused her.

''A bit'' she shrugged off her lie, averting her gaze away, trying to avoid eye contact.

Not wanting to push her any further before she was ready to talk, he continued; ''do you think you can remember the drills we just went through?'' She nodded, curious why he was asking. ''Can you do them without me?'' his head cocked to one side, wondering if his suspicion was right.

''In the air?'' She looked at him, confused at the task. At the nod of his head she began to throw punches and kicks, ducking the attacks of her imaginary partner. She felt the familiar rush of adrenaline alerting her senses as she fully committed to each movement.

By the time she had finished, dribbles of sweat swam across her forehead. Oliver stood back bewildered, his eyes focused on the panting girl trying to catch her breath. His lips parted, trying to speak but his mind failed him.

''Felicity. Your fighting skills are unbelievable. Why didn't you fight like that when we were sparring together?'' Oliver didn't know whether to be angry or afraid or even happy at discovering her skills.

''I can't, I don't know why but when I am in a fighting situation I just freeze''. The fighting girl he had just seen vanished as he watched Felicity crumble in front of him.

''Hey, c'mon we can try weapons or something,'' his soft voice soothing her. He watched, still in shock as she wandered over to the knife stand. Reaching for the knives, Felicity clumsily knocked them onto the floor. Before she had a chance to vent her frustration, Oliver was next to her, handing her a training knife. Gripping onto it tightly, she aimed her hand at the target board.

Oliver watched with sad eyes as her steadied hand started to shake lightly and watched, helpless as it became more violent. Tears began to form in Felicity's eyes as she turned to Oliver; ''why am I so weak?'' she sobbed into his chest as he pulled her into hug.

''Hey, Felicity, look at me. We are going to get through this. There is something holding you back. You are scared of something so we can face it. Together.'' Felicity smiled at his kindness and pulled away from him, wiping dry her cheeks, ''What are you scared of?''

Blinking in surprise at the abruptness of his question Felicity thought hard; ''heights'' she finally replied. Felicity blindly obeyed as she felt Oliver tie a soft material to her as a blindfold. ''Where are we going?'' she asked, trying to aim her speech at where Oliver was standing.

''You'll see,'' he grinned mischievously, leading her up the foundry steps.

Felicity's vision had been nothing but blackness for the past fifteen minutes. Under any other circumstances Felicity would have been scared. She didn't know why but as long as she was clutching onto the muscular arm draped across her body, she felt safe. She didn't flinch at the sound of glass shattering, she didn't even resist to getting in what she presumed to be an elevator and even when she realised they were standing on a roof top her legs didn't buckle like they normally would have. It wasn't until she felt the cool breeze blow the loose strands of hair from her face that the realisation set in and the nausea hit her.

Peeling off the now warm material, her eyes caught the sight of thousands of different coloured lights sparkling in the darkness. A gasp caught in her throat, she was higher than the tallest of buildings she felt like she was sitting in the clouds. The air up there seemed to thin as she looked downwards at the blobs she guessed to be people illuminated by the yellow dots of street lights. Forgetting her fear for a split second she could see how Oliver could spend his nights on rooftops, the feeling of power and the tranquillity was breath-taking.

However, reality quickly caught up and the fear hit her at once. A sickness exploded in her stomach, her hands starting to shake. Her eyes started to water, dizziness causing her thoughts to swirl together. She tried to step away from the edge but her legs crumbled underneath her, failing to support her weight. Her body froze, and in terror she realised that she couldn't move. In less than a second Oliver had pulled her waist against his and wrapped his strong arms around her body. Miraculously at his touch her fear washed away. Her panic replaced by the warmth of his breath on her cheek.

Oliver smiled at the girl snuggled in his arms as he felt her body relax into his. Letting go of his control, he placed a sloppy kiss on her forehead. He angled their bodies so they were facing into the night and started to speak; ''On the island somebody once told me that every fear is connected to something in your life, destroy the connection and the fear disappears. So Felicity why are you so scared of heights?''

Everything had been going perfectly up until he had asked the question. Suddenly Felicity's whole body started shaking, sobs erupting from her chest broke the silence. Her eyes once again became wild with panic, her breath quickening. Panic and terror tore at her, ripping her apart as the repressed memories tried to drown her. Suddenly Felicity felt her throat close, allowing no air to pass through. Sweat poured off her body, her legs folded beneath her and her vision turning dark. She felt Oliver's arms underneath her, catching her but she was paralyzed with fear, a fear so strong not even his touch could stop it.

_Her eyes snapped open, the pain rippling through her aching body. Everything about the room was disorientated and that was when Felicity realised she wasn't in a room. Blood rushed to her head, bounding against the sides of her head, trying to escape. Looking upwards and ignoring the searing pain in her head she tried to pull her body up the rope. Her weight was too much and her arms were too weak after hours of trying, but she had to keep going before she drifted unconscious again. Telling herself not to look down and work out the height at which she was hanging from she once again tried to reach the ties that bound her now bloodied wrists together. Hatred pulsed through her, giving her a burst of energy but it wasn't enough. She hated him for doing this to her. He thought it would make her stronger but he couldn't see she just wanted it to be over. Why couldn't her father see that with every 'training exercise' hell he put her through, her body gave up and she gave in to the calmness of hoping death would come soon. Why couldn't he see what he was doing to her? Felicity hated training she had tried a million times to run away from the sick excuse of a man that was her father but it was near impossible._

When Felicity awoke she was in Oliver's arms, his gaze of concern focused on her entirely. Sitting up on the cool rooftop floor next to him she smiled, indicating that she was ok. Oliver could tell that whatever it was that Felicity was so afraid of she wasn't ready to talk about it. He hated himself for suggesting the idea of facing her fears, he certainly didn't think she would react like this. Sighing, he draped one arm over her shoulder heavily and leaned into her shivering body, attempting to give her some warmth.

Diverting from the obvious subject they needed to discuss he spoke; ''So when are you going to tell me what was going on with Thea this morning?''

Felicity grinned at him, thankful for the change of topic and chatted back, ''you know how she is. I couldn't sleep and she found me on the couch and the next thing I knew she was dressing me up and doing my hair and make-up and declaring we were having a sleepover!''

''The horror!'' Oliver teased her, resulting in her thumping him lightly on the shoulder. They sat there for hours, just chatting away, their conversation drifting from topics easily until it settled on them talking about how much their lives had changed in the past two weeks.

 

...

 

As Oliver blinked open his eyes to a blinding light he was instantly on guard, wondering where he was. He felt something warm in his arms, looking down he realised that that something was a person and that person was Felicity. A smile was plastering her face and her golden hair was tickling his chest. Sighing, the girl snuggled her face deeper into his chest, causing his muscles to contract as he tried to supress his urges. If you had asked him 5 years ago, this would have been his fantasy, the perfect image that he would suffer 5 years in hell to look forward to.

Holding her tighter in his arms panic seeped through him as he caught a glance of his gloved hand. It was broad daylight and he was still in his Arrow costume. Frantically nudging Felicity's shoulder till she was awake they both realised the horror of the situation. There was no way he could walk the streets in the now very busy morning rush, even if nobody recognised him they would see Felicity and she didn't know the city well enough to get back to the foundry alone and waiting till dark on the roof was not an option.

Cursing himself for falling asleep, Oliver guided Felicity back through the door leading to the roof and they both ran through the corridor. A noise caught Oliver's attention as panic set over them, they were too late. Seeing the lift door slowly open, he scanned the corridor frantically, searching for a place to hide. Felicity's small hand grabbed onto his arm, pulling him through a door. She pushed him through, not realising how small the room they were in was until her body was shoved against his, both of them squished against the wall.

They remained still, barely breathing as they waited for the person to pass. Stepping away from Oliver when he had confirmed the path was clear Felicity guessed they were squashed in a caretaker's cupboard.

''Strip'' the abrupt command from the somewhat innocent girl took him by surprise.

''W-what?'' his expression distorted, completely confused.

''Just trust me, I have an idea,'' was her only response before she turned away.

Turning back to face him Felicity tried not to let her emotions show as she took in his tanned muscular and perfect body. His scars added to his strength and Felicity resisted the urge to touch them. So much pain and torture lay on his body and it took all of her strength to control the swirl of emotions and urges inside her. She reached for his leather pants and instructed him to turn away. Clearly baffled at what on earth her plan was, he blindly accepted. Placing the old pair of shorts she had been wearing in his hand Oliver quickly slipped them on.

The sight brought up something inside of him that he had never felt before, a deep hunger, something far more extreme than even his wildest fantasies. Felicity was facing him in The Arrow's pants, his pants. He tried to hold back but he just couldn't. Oliver bit down hard on the insides of his cheek, fighting his feelings, until he drew blood.

''I figured that if you walked out in them then people might put two and two together. But everyone thinks The Arrow's male, nobody would suspect a petite blond. I doubt anyone will even notice if I wear it, I have a habit of blending in, plus you are a billionaire so you are already going to be attracting attention.'' Oliver smiled at the pure genius of her plan but it quickly vanished as she proceeded to unzip her hoody and lift her top over her head. He could only see the back of her but Oliver felt an intense heat burn his cheeks. The green leather pants hugged her figure, sure they were a bit lose but just the thought of her not even in his private clothes but in The Arrow's clothes was too much. She was basically wearing his secret he thought, smiling to himself. Looking downwards and focusing on a spot on the floor to avoid the sight of her bare back Oliver was handed the top she had been wearing.

Looking over at the girl she was wearing his training hoody zipped up fully and a shiver ran down his spine as he realised she was only wearing her bra underneath. Pulling her shirt back over himself, he disregarded the thought that he was already referring to his tops that Felicity was borrowing as hers. A huge grin played on his face, they were sharing clothes now. The scent of her shampoo; strawberry's and some other kind of flowery smell hung on his clothes.

 

...

 

Dig, Roy and Sara stared at the duo as they entered the foundry. ''Do I even want to ask?'' Dig was first to react.

''Wait are you wearing each other's clothes? Are you wearing his Arrow costume? Man that's some weird fantasy?'' Roy judged him quickly a bewildered grin on his face.

Both Oliver and Felicity turned a crimson shade and quickly tried to explain the situation but the look on the team's faces told Oliver that they didn't believe him.

''Umm... I am going to shower'' Felicity declared, trying to escape the awkward tension of the group. As she climbed into the shower she heard the others leave. Felicity felt the warm water run across her body and she relaxed closing her eyes. Suddenly the water ran cold and she was facing a dark grey stone wall.

_'Please don't do this' she whimpered at him. 'You have to be punished' a chill ran through Felicity as she recognised the voice. The man's painful grip tugged of a chunk of Felicity's hair. She fought him, desperately trying to free herself from his clutches. 'You will pay for what you have done' the voice screamed, piercing her ears. His grip tightened on the back of her head. The force of his hand threw Felicity off guard. Suddenly ice cold water escaped into her nose, it washed into her eyes. Felicity tried to scream but the water caused her to choke. It's long claws scratching her skin, plunging down her throat. Felicity thrashed about desperately in the water struggling to breath. She could feel its icy talons climbing down her throat. The next thing she knew she was being dragged out of the water by her hair and she gasped for breath frantically as she knew what was coming next. Before she even had a chance to splutter out the water in her lungs she was plunged back underneath._

Still half living in her memory, Felicity grabbed the nearest towel wrapping it around herself. ''OLIVER!'' she screamed frantically, stumbling blindly around the bathroom. She could still feel his cold hand gripping onto the back of her head and could still see the sick smile playing on his face.

Oliver broke down the bathroom door with such a force that Felicity was pulled out of the nightmare. He rushed over to her, instantly engulfing her in his arms and rubbing circular motions onto her back as she coughed up the remains of the shower water. ''What the hell happened?'' worry lined his voice. Felicity just shook her head in response and stayed in his arms until her breathing returned normal and her sobs dyed out.

...

 

Hours had passed since Felicity's panic attack and despite the unusual silence, she had quickly grown back into herself as if it had never happened. Oliver didn't know if Felicity was truly ok or she was just putting on an act. ''Are you ok'' he pushed back the loose wet curls that stuck to her face.

''Thank you,'' she murmured in response. Oliver knew she wasn't ready to talk about whatever it was that was bothering her but he couldn't help feel sympathy for her. She was terrified of something, she had the same reaction to her nightmares, the same at the explosion then at the rooftops and now taking a shower. Oliver searched for a link between them but there was none, he didn't know how to help her. Trying to change the subject again he looked down at the frightened blond and smiled. ''What are you smiling about mister?'' Felicity teased him lightly breaking the tension.

''I was just thinking about our first kiss?'' he grinned cheekily at her.

''Oh yeh? Seeing me all hot and steamy from the shower brought it on? Or was it when you saw me in only my bra? Don't deny it I saw you peeking.'' Felicity played with him, feeling the same emotions take over as before. Oliver placed his hands on her waist, pulling her body closer so that they were touching. He hummed gently as the heat prickled his skin.

''How do you do it?'' he asked innocently breathing her scent.

''Do what?'' The smile lighting up her face grew even larger, she placed her hand underneath his shirt, resting it on his chest. Oliver let out an exasperated moan; ''do that'' he replied, slipping his right hand under her top and onto the small of her back. As bare skin touched bare skin their eyes met. Rubbing his hand gently into her back he grazed a part of her delicate skin that felt different. Recognising it as scar tissue sadness grew in Oliver's eye.

As if touching the scar was a button Felicity immediately pulled away. From the panicked look growing in her eye Oliver knew she was going to have another panic attack. Tears chocked in his throat, as he wondered what on earth could make somebody so scared. Even from all his time on the island he had never seen somebody this scared before.

Felicity felt his rough hands gently graze the scar on her lower back. She felt her body immediately lurch itself into another nightmare as she fell loose in Oliver's arms.

_She looked around the cellar sighing, she wished she hadn't of been truthful to him. After a month of plucking up the courage, she had finally told her father that she didn't want to be training anymore, she wanted to be treated like the teenage girl she was. So he had thrown her down into the cellar for the 5th time that month. She didn't really mind though, although it meant starving for a few days, it was better than his other punishments. She knew it was stupid, but she made sure that at least once a week she would try to escape. It would be worth all of the pain from him if she finally made it out of his grasps. Suddenly the door clicked open and she looked up in surprise wondering who it was. A figure stepped into the dark room and smiled at her. Growing tense immediately she recognised the sick smile on his face similar to her fathers. 'So your dad said you wanted to feel like a girl right?' the aggressive voice grew louder as he came nearer to her. Fear took over her whole body as Felicity realised what his words meant. She started screaming for help but he pushed her violently up against the wall, covering her mouth. 'So you want to play hard do you?' Felicity clawed at the man's face struggling to free herself. He yelled at her, smashing her head against the wall. 'You will pay for that you little bitch'. Pulling a silver blade from his pants pocket he began tracing the knife down her side. Sobs escaped her and tears streamed down her cheeks as she desperately tried to think of a plan. Lifting up her top he placed the knife against her back, digging it in deeper he began to place a trail of kisses down her shoulder. Nausea flowed through her at his touch and her whole body trembled. Felicity saw her chance and let her body weight drop in his arms. Startled as she dropped to the ground the knife dug further into her back. Climbing on top of her he snarled 'you don't have to be awake'. Felicity fought back a smile, he had fallen for it. Thinking she was unconscious his grip had loosened and she took the opportunity to kick him backwards into the wall. Grabbing onto the wooden chair next to her hand she smashed into his head, knocking him to the ground. Anger seeped through her, why had her father done this to her? She let out the built up rage and continued to whack the psycho over the head. Stepping back in horror Felicity realised what she had done. Her hand were soaked in blood and a pool of red was seeping from his head._

The room started to spin, lurching in different directions, till she couldn't stand any more. All Felicity could picture in her head was the image of his lifeless body. Sickness drowned her, pulling her towards the ground and the tears in her eyes made the room blurry. She rushed away from Oliver and reached the foundry's bathroom just in time to vomit into the toilet.

Her heavy breathing evened out as Oliver sat down beside her, placing a hand on her shoulder. ''When he found me and realised what I had done he wasn't horrified..'' Felicity started to speak quietly as Oliver tried to figure out what she was talking about. ''He was proud'' Felicity let out a heavy sob into Oliver's shoulder. ''He was proud that I had made my first kill. I had spent years trying to avoid it in his training but I had killed on my own. He told me he was happy that I had given into the darkness. He turned me into a monster''.

Oliver looked down at the vulnerable girl, there was no way she could be a killer. Taking a wild leap, Oliver guessed; 'is that what you are afraid of? Is that who's got you so afraid? Felicity who is he?' Oliver gulped, dreading the answer.

Felicity broke eye contact with him and said the name of the person that had been haunting her for years; 'My Father'.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this chapter was a bit dark but it does get lighter I promise and Felicity gets back to her normal bubbly self! Also I know I have portrayed Felicity as weak here but it is because I wanted to show how she becomes the strong determined character we see on the show, so she will become stronger. Also I wanted to say thank you once again for the response to this story I love reading all your comments and what you all think of the story! See you next time :)


	6. His Light

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I can't thank you all enough for the great response so far, I love reading all of your comments!  
> OK, so pre-warning: don't panic and stop reading when you get towards the end scenes, just read the A/N at the end of the chapter. I can assure it's not what you think this story is after all HEA. Enjoy :)

_ He looked up, a permanent growl placed on his face, as the door opened and in walked a white-coated man, a nervous expression painted on his face. “Well what is it?” The harsh voice of the man drew the doctor's sympathetic gaze away from the frightened woman hugging herself in the corner.  _

_ Stumbling over his words, the doctor faced the floor and mumbled, “umm.. it's a girl again”'. The man drew up, sucking in his chest, fury written across his face; “GET RID OF IT. I NEED A WARRIOR. A WEAPON. NOT SOME WEAK GIRL”.  _

_ The doctor rushed towards the woman, trying to comfort her whimpering as the man thrashed about the room in rage. He tore at the wall's posters, upturning the medical table, kicking about the equipment until it scattered the floor. His eyes narrowed as he glared at the woman. Reaching towards her neck, he pressed her up against the wall, watching her struggle for breath with a sick smile across his face.  _

_ “Stop!” The doctor gulped, trying to draw up some courage. Spinning round, the man's gaze rested on him. Before he could start the vicious verbal abuse the doctor had heard so many times before, he spoke; “This is the third time this has happened, you can't afford to waste another dosage, you are running out of time”.  _

_ Taking in the doctor's words, the man scowled down at him and stormed out of the room. Facing the trembling woman, the doctor prepared the vibrant blue liquid in the syringe. “Please don't, not again.” A pit of fear plunged into the doctor's stomach. He had seen this before and knew that the woman's pain would be unbearable. “I'm sorry” he muttered as he placed the needle above the skin of her stomach. He had tried to block out the reality but it kept scratching at him, trying to free itself; he knew the woman would die from this eventually. Fighting against his morals the doctor watched the woman struggle against the fiery liquid, burning her insides. Although he acted clueless, he had recognised the altered formula of the drug that he had experimented on and he knew that this would turn the innocent baby into a monster. However his fear took the better of him as he closed the door to the room to suffocate the woman's screams of pain. Faking a smile, he returned to the furious man, “it’s done” he stated monotonously. The doctor walked away, fighting the sinking feeling of doom in his chest and pretended to be oblivious to the effects of the drug he had just injected; Mirakuru. _

…

It had only been a few weeks since her and The Arrow had first met but she already saw the foundry as her home. Felicity had never had a home before, never had people in her life who cared about her, so the vibrant personalities of team arrow quickly grew from her friends to her family. They had taken her in from the streets and revealed their secret without hesitation. Trust was never something she could rely on but for the first time in her life she felt safe, even with the obvious dangers of being with The Arrow. 

Felicity already had her spot in the foundry, already had claimed the computers as her own and even had her own seat at the Queen's dining table, next to Oliver, although still had yet to meet the absent Moira Queen and Walter Steele. She could now name every maid and could tell you about their lives. The maids had smothered her with love like a moth to a flame, her being the only one to take an interest in their lives. She and Oliver had grown even closer to each other, never spending a second apart, often communicating just through a look. Felicity knew when Oliver needed to be left alone, when he needed help but wouldn't admit it and when he just needed her there for comfort. 

Felicity was the only one who could question The Arrow, the only one he would listen to in his fit of frustration, and the only one who could push him to his limits when he had lost all hope. Leaning back in her chair, she smiled; she was finally happy.

Placing the incessantly ringing phone face down, Felicity sighed. "Seriously! Thea has been ringing you non-stop today. Just go and see how she is", Felicity gave Oliver a look that quickly vanished his argument. "I don't have to be in your company 24/7. Not that I am … I mean I don't spend the night with you. Well technically we do … but not in _that_ way. Not that I wouldn't want to or anything... Oh god!" 

Chuckling to himself, Oliver nodded and trudged towards the foundry's exit reluctantly. Shouting that she would join him, Sara easily caught up with the sulking man. 

"Umm, actually do you mind if I talk to you a sec Sara?" Felicity's innocent voice broke the silence; “in private” she quickly added. For a brief moment dismay washed over Oliver's eyes but a split second later it was gone.

Methodically rubbing her thumb against her index finger in attempted comfort, Felicity forcefully lifted her gaze from the floor onto Sara. “Oliver said that you have a.. err skill that you might be able to help me with...” 

Instinctively Sara placed her hand in support onto the girls shoulder, her eyes growing wide in sympathy. Plastering a smile of encouragement on her lips she gestured for the girl to continue. “ You see ... Ummm recently ... No I mean .. I err “. After several nervous false starts Felicity finally managed to string her words together in a coherent order; “I have been having a lot of nightmares and panic attacks recently from past memories and Oliver mentioned that you helped him before”. 

After nodding briefly Sara explained; “it was a skill I acquired on Nanda Parbat. It was a requirement that all league members should be able to perform a form of memory altering therapy. Basically whilst the body is in a complete state of rest it uses a form of psychotic hypnosis to alter parts of your long term memory. It's specifically used when a member is subject to particularly violent torture however can be used in reverse if a member threatens to leave. It works by altering a specific detail in your memory, like the place it took place, to something more uplifting. Therefore the mind transfers the positive schemas for the uplifting image onto the damaged memory thereby altering it.” Nodding shyly to show her appreciation for Sara's help, Felicity obeyed her instructions.

A couple of hours had passed but after feeling the pricks on the back of her skin, Felicity immediately knew that Oliver had returned. Sensing his frustration, she followed the figure over to the training mats and watched silently as he built up a sweat. Leaning her back against the cool wall she slid herself down so her legs were sprawled out on the floor in front of her and waited until Oliver had got everything out of his system. Catching his eye, she smiled at him, letting him know that she would be there for him when he was ready to talk. 

“Apparently Thea has a different idea of what an emergency is” he huffed, drawing his gaze from the boxing dummy. Grabbing the permanently placed bottle of water from the table, he plonked himself on the floor next to Felicity. Letting out an exasperated sigh, he continued; “I'm really sorry”.

“It's fine” Felicity's reply had slipped out of her mouth before he had even told her what had happened.

“Thea apparently went rummaging through the wardrobe in your room at the mansion. She always says you can tell everything from a person's clothes and all she had seen you in was a couple of my shirts and one of her old dresses, but that doesn't give her the right to go through your things..” Oliver's voice started to rise but soon calmed when he felt Felicity unconsciously rubbing her thumb in circles onto the back of his hand. “She went through your wardrobe and found it to be empty so she looked through your belongings to find where your clothes were but obviously you had nothing so she confronted me completely confused. I had to make up a story about your house burning down that's why you are staying with us and all of your possessions were destroyed by the blaze. Of course she then takes that as a challenge so now the second you step foot in the mansion she is going to be dragging you out to go shopping. I tried to get you out of it but no matter how many criminals I take down I still can't control my kid sister!”

Felicity giggled at him; “you know I think that's the most I have ever heard you talk” she stated simply, earning a grin in reply. Fully gripping onto his hand, she pulled him upwards and led the sweaty man towards the stairs. “Where...” placing her finger onto his moist lips she stopped his stutter with a single word; “shopping”.

…

After Oliver's initial complaints, the trio made their made towards the mass of crowds surrounding the shops. Thea's face had literally lit up, her excitement blinding both Oliver and Felicity, so before they had even opened the door fully, Thea was dragging the pair into a parked car. Oliver's eyes sparkled as he glanced over at Felicity happily chatting away with his sister. A shopping trip was his worst nightmare but a shopping trip with Thea was like being plunged into the deepest pits of hell. He thought back to their deal and smiled. He knew, however initially enthusiastic Felicity was, she wouldn't be able to cope shopping with Thea alone so he had given in to her pleading eyes.

It wasn't long before Felicity's energy began to physically drain out; she was sick of dresses and designer labels. She couldn't stand another worker waiting on her, taking the incessant demands from Thea, how they could keep a fake smile on their face was beyond her. She loved Thea like her sister but sometimes she was just a bit too much, she felt as if her head would explode if she heard another high-pitched squeal from her. Just thought of another tight shop stuffed with groups of chattering females holding their chin up high and throwing judging glares at her outfit made her shudder. As much as she hated it, Felicity found it kind of amusing how they looked at her like something from the bottom of their shoe yet the second they registered Oliver Queen's hand resting on her shoulder they quickly became flustered and walked over, acting as if they were long lost friends. The sort of people in there were the people who before wouldn't even register her existence, she wasn't even worth a disapproving glare from them if they had seen her months ago. 

“Maybe we can ditch her” Oliver's warm breath tickled her ear, earning a disapproving glare from Thea. 

“Don't be mean!” Felicity punched his arm jokingly. 

“You're going to pay for that!” Oliver wrapped his arms around her waist causing Felicity to squeal in surprise. 

Almost immediately Thea was at their side; “So as Oliver's _friend_ what do you think of this top?” Her emphasis on the word ' friend' caused Oliver's arm to drop instantly; he didn't want to get on the bad side of Thea. 

“It's great! Tell you what I'm going to try this on and I will meet you back here in a sec” Grabbing the nearest dress off the rails she marched over to the changing room. Closing the heavy red curtain behind her, Felicity leaned into the wall and sighed. 

Suddenly the curtain flung open and Oliver swiftly slipped in, undetected by Thea. A smile broke onto Felicity's face; “you know this is the _ladies_ changing room” she teased him as he responded by closing the distance between them. 

“I was bored” he sulked playfully, pushing out his bottom lip. “And I think it's been an hour so I'm here for your part of the deal.” 

Felicity hummed, biting down on her lower lip; “actually I think it's been a few hours.” Pushing her up against the wall, Oliver pressed his lips into her, hungrily kissing her. The small space quickly became heated as their tongues brushed together. Lifting her shirt up slightly, he began tracing his rough fingers along her bare back. Sighing in pleasure Felicity pushed deeper into the kiss. 

The tension suddenly dropped, the space growing cold as they broke apart quickly at the sound of a voice; “Hey Felicity what's taking you so long? Hurry up I want to see that dress on you!” 

Slapping Oliver's arm for his poor attempt at hiding his amusement at the annoyed girl, she sighed; “Nearly done”. “Thea is going to kill us if she knows you are in here. Just turn around”, starting to strip off her clothing she glanced over at the smirking vigilante. “Turn around” she repeated, only to be met with the stubborn refusal of a determined toddler. 

“Don't you want my help?” he whispered innocently. Trying to push down the flames, scorching her insides she grinned, placing him in the corner. Quickly slipping on the dress, she went out to show Thea. 

When she returned to the tiny changing room Oliver was in her way. He purposefully kept brushing against her she tried to change, taking every opportunity for their bodies to clash with each other. Laughing at his teasing she placed a messy kiss on his lips and left the changing rooms. After that the shopping trip didn't seem as bad, in fact Oliver and Felicity rather enjoyed it, turning it into a game; inconspicuously holding hands or landing quick kisses on one another when Thea's back was turned. Of course Thea had noticed, she wasn't completely stupid! And although the idea of Felicity going from her friend to Oliver's girlfriend annoyed her, it was the first time she has seen Oliver smiling genuinely in a long time. Thea smiled; Felicity, had spun into their lives without a warning and had brought a light with her that made it impossible to feel down around her. Her bubbly self and her inappropriate babbles could make even the devil himself smile.

…

Despite their obvious exhaustion, Oliver and Felicity had snuck out of the mansion when Thea had fallen asleep through some chick-flick movie that Felicity hadn't managed to escape from. However the rush of adrenaline caused by an alert on Felicity's computer monitor's was a breath of fresh air to them and quickly brought their senses alert. Running into action, Felicity swivelled round in the black cushioned computer chair to face the group. 

Groaning, Felicity dished out the bad news; “facial recognition caught The Reaper Brother's but they aren't together. I'm guessing they are planting the first trail of bombs so we need to get to them before they succeed”. 

Pulling up the camera feeds the group saw a figure climbing through a broken window of an abandoned steel factory, the footage was almost parallel to the other brother. The group quickly changed into their suits and decided who was splitting up. Sara and Roy went to one location whilst Oliver, went to the other. Felicity was needed to manually hack into their security system so Dig was ordered to watch over her.

…

Ripping apart the splintered planks of wood, blocking the entry of any intruders, Oliver jumped through the gap, landing on all fours. Straightening up he focused his senses in the still room. The silent darkness filled Oliver with regret, he knew straight away something was wrong. Feeling a sharp pinch on the skin of his neck he instinctively pulled out a near-empty syringe. Aiming his bow at the direction of the attack, Oliver slowly backed towards the exit. He knew he couldn't surrender, once The Reaper Brother's had planted the first set of bombs the whole city would be at risk. But Oliver knew that pretty soon he would be useless.

Focusing his vision on the looming figure, Oliver felt the rest of his sight blur. A piercing screech drilled into his head as nausea washed over him. One by one his senses were shutting down. Trying to fight the effects of the drug, he stumbled towards the figure. Knowing it was useless he pulled out his bow, and aimed it at the shadow. What used to be a split second natural instinct turned against him as he fumbled, nocking another arrow. But it was a failed attempt and soon his shaking hands couldn't even grip onto the compound bow. The bow seemed to fall in slow motion towards the floor as Oliver lurched forwards attacking the man. His movements were slowed and his aim thrown off completely. 

The figure began laughing at the broken vigilante, standing over him as Oliver fell to the ground. His vision violently spinning back and forth, he clutched at the ground trying to pull himself back up but his arms collapsed at his weight. Soon his body was paralysed as he lay motionless, fighting to keep his eyes open. Watching the dark blurry figure pace about the room, blackness pulled him deep under, his breath evening out.

…

Oliver was dragged back to reality met by an excruciating pain pulsing through his veins. Opening his heavy eyes to face the blinding light, panic set in. His eyes locked onto Felicity's before his senses could resurface. Blinking frantically, the blurriness of the room grew sharper and his distorted vision cleared. The Arrow had been in this position many times before but he was always alone, never had to care for another's safety. Whatever pain Oliver was fighting, he knew he couldn't let anything happen to the terrified girl in front of him. 

Before he could react, the figure entered the room, the sickening joy of delight spread across his face. Walking over towards the petite blond he carelessly slashed at her ties. Oliver winced in horror as the knife broke her skin. The Arrow gulped painfully and closed his eyes, Felicity was his anchor, the light she carried with her helped him stay afloat. But seeing her hurt like this, because of him, pulled his sinking body further into the darkness, drowning him. Pure droplets of water formed at the edges of his eyes, he had never felt like this before. His body had given up, the fight in him dying out; Felicity was in harm’s way and it was all his fault. She was going to die, the whole city would, because he had let himself be happy, he had been distracted. 

Blocking out her frightened whimpering because he couldn't bear it, he spat at the attacker. Aggressively using his Arrow voice, Oliver shouted at the attacker to let her go. However the noise that left his throat was little more than a grunt. Desperately trying to shout, his voice was hoarse, trapped in his throat. The feeling of fear was alien to him but right now it took his body hostage. He knew it was ridiculous, he hadn't even known this girl for a month and yet there was something about her that he couldn't quite place. The only sound echoing off the walls was that of a clock ticking. He watched in horror as her unconscious body collapsed to the floor. The harshness of the event jolted him into life, he roared viciously, letting every emotion escape into the night, causing the vile man to jump became in fright. “WHAT DO YOU WANT WITH HER?” He emptied his lungs with such a force it almost seemed to make the walls shake. 

“Insurance” the figure smiled sweetly and disappeared out of the room, dragging Felicity's slumped body after him.

Wrestling against the strangling ropes that tore at his wrists, Oliver twisted his body back so he couldn't see how he was tied. He could vaguely make out something cold and curved pressing into his back. Identifying it as a pole, he realised he was tied to one of the building support beams. Eyeing the room systematically he searched for his bow but came up empty. 

A piercing scream rung throughout the darkness, chilling him to his very core. It was Felicity. Without thinking he wrenched his arm against the pole, the sickening crunch of bone didn't even make him hesitate. He would let the light in his life go out, wouldn't let anything happen to the woman that made him smile. 

Throwing the ropes to the ground he charged through the door, knocking it off its hinges. He was an animal attacking the hallways in search for its pray, he was out for blood and The Arrow didn't care who stood in his way. 

Following the low noise of chatter, he smashed into what looked like a lab. Only seconds later its remains weren't recognisable. Grabbing the nearest worker, Oliver pushed him hard against the wall, holding onto to him by his throat. A quick ten second interrogation later, Oliver smashed the man’s head back against the wall, knocking him unconscious and pounded out of the room. 

Oliver made his way to the roof, flying up the steps three at a time. Kicking the fire door violently, it collapsed at his weight. The icy air ripped at him, slashing his skin painfully. His breath caught in his throat. The figure held the girl at gunpoint. Her frightened gaze fixed on the man in green; her hero. Her eyes full of hope and relief at his face. Felicity trusted him with everything she had and knew that Oliver would never let anything happen to her. 

Gulping down her tears she tried to steady her breathing, following Sara's voice as it echoed through her mind. She focused on her surrounds, blocking out the cold harsh winds. Counting down in her head she dipped it slightly towards Oliver's. Here goes nothing she thought. Slipping out of the startled man’s grip, she managed to throw the gun from him. 

The Arrow quickly pushed her to one side, taking full advantage of Felicity's surprise attack. Blood spurted out of the man’s mouth, escaping down his cheek as The Arrow caught his lip with his fist. Once again the snapping of bone filled the night’s air and his nose erupted in a flood of lava. The Arrow slaughtered the man, tearing at his body. He lay out cold in a puddle of his own blood and yet rage seared through Oliver. Only the purest touch of trembling fingers on his arm broke him from his trance. 

“Don't. Please don't kill him.” Felicity's innocent voice poured through his ears as The Arrow freed the rage built up inside of him. Wrapping the girl in his arms he promised never to let go.

Felicity fell into his arms. The fear brewing inside of her vanishing into the night. Smiling into his arms she felt at home. She knew that this man would protect her no matter what. Resting her pale cheek against his chest, she sank deeper into his torso. His warmth radiated through his suit and onto her skin. His scent filled the air around her and Felicity felt her stomach drop as his hand brushed through her hair. Oliver closed his eyes, appreciating the moment. Instantly his body filled with regret, almost as if he knew what was going to happen before it did. 

He heard the bullet tear through the air in slow motion. Felt the force of it toppling him backwards. Their eyes caught briefly frozen in time. He stared into her innocent eyes, watched the light dancing off of them. He saw the sudden glint of fear and betrayal wash over them. He was mesmerised by the sudden change in her. And then he witnessed the cold dull look set in. Her body went limp in his arms as they both fell against the ground. Placing a hand gently on her now cold cheek, a silent tear escaped his eye. There was no panic, no frantic attempt to save her. Before he even felt Felicity's beating pulse, he knew it was too late. 

Glancing down at her blood covered body he started to drown. The bullet had gone straight through her chest, she didn't even stand a chance. Her once bright, rosy cheeks full of joy now cold and grey. The Arrow surrendered at the sight of his lost friend, feeling his body turn numb. He cradled her limp body in his arms, tracing the smile that still played on her parted lips. Laying down beside her he curled up. The Arrow's life had been drained out of him and he didn't want to carry on any more; he couldn't.

That was how the team had found him, hours later. Sara and Roy had arrived immediately after finding their warehouse empty and had spotted a beaten up Dig sprawled out in a dumpster in the nearby alley. They had taken care of the bomb and the muscle protecting it. But when they reached the roof they found their leader, the city's hero, crumpled in a mass of hopelessness. He desperately cradled the blonde’s lifeless body to his chest, clinging onto all that was left of the babbling girl. Felicity was The Arrow's hope, his light, the person that guided him out of his darkest hours. And tonight his light had flickered, its dimness finally giving out. She had been dragged out of his world as suddenly as she fell in. 

It was unfair, after everything The Arrow had done for the city, every life that he had saved, why didn't he deserve his happy ending?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Ok first things first DON'T PANIC I would never ever ever properly kill Felicity off! Yes she is technically dead atm but she will be alive and fine in the story, it will make more sense when you read the next chapter! (hint as you would have probably guessed it has something to do with the first paragraph.) As you will see in the next few chapters it was a necessary scene. Thanks once again for all your awesome feedback and please let me know what you think :)


	7. Gone

Sara, Roy and Dig stood motionless on the foundry steps, a look of despair and concern holding their faces hostage. Gulping away his pained expression, Roy broke the silence.

"It's been nearly a week, shouldn't we do something?" His question was met with hopeless looks; no team member knew what to do. Nobody could predict how Oliver would react. When the team ventured within touching distance he would explode in a fit of rage; at the sound of their voices, he would sink into the ground, seemingly lost inside himself. Averting her gaze from the troubled sight, Sara monotonously walked out of the foundry, the others following without a second thought.

Oliver was a statue, hunched in the same position he had been in for days. He was desperately fighting his instinct to blink, forcing his eyes open. The light in his eyes was long gone as he stared, fixated on her now grey skin. A droplet of water had found its home balancing on the ridge of Oliver's eye, for five days it stayed, threatening to fall. Oliver's trembling hands gently cupped her colourless cheeks. It was as if no time had passed for him, as if he was still trapped in the same horrific moment. The split second the light in Felicity's vibrant eyes went dull played on a loop, torturing him. Oliver's body was numb, his emotions vacant and his smile torn from his face. At that moment Oliver Queen, billionaire, died on the Gambit again and Starling City's hero, The Arrow, lost his final battle.

Choking back a sob, Oliver watched in daze as the blonde's limp hand began to twitch. Colour flooded into her cheeks, her eyes flickering open. Oliver gulped, it was the same sequence of events he had seen so many times in his dreams; he was hallucinating. Swinging her body around, Felicity perched on the edge of the metal bench, looking at Oliver with an expression of deep concern. His transfixed stare now shattered across the foundry floor. Stumbling backwards, Oliver gulped back his tears. He was thrown into a fiery pit of rage, furious at his mind for giving him false hope. For the first time in days, Oliver shifted from his position, terrified of his hallucination. He raced towards the foundry's exit, practically tripping up the stairs, blocking out Felicity's cries of worry. He had to get out of there.

…

When Sara and Roy strolled down the foundry steps for their hourly check on Oliver, they both immediately tensed, their senses struck on high alert. Whispering for Dig to follow them, they tiptoed down the metal steps, heading towards the faint sound of humming. Anger and fear flashed in Dig's eyes as he noticed that somebody had taken Felicity's body and Oliver was nowhere to be seen. The rattling noise grew louder as the team of three surrounded the source. Sara raised a set of nunchucks she had grabbed on the way down, Roy raised his bow whilst Dig simply raised his guard.

"Show yourself!" Sara took the lead, her threatening voice bounding off the walls. The crouched figure yelped in pain as she bashed her head against the top of the table in surprise. Roy firmly grabbed the fallen arm and harshly pulled the figure out from under the table.

"It's only me!" The innocent voice of a frightened girl shocked the team to their very core. A small whimper left Dig's trembling lips.

"Felicity?!" The team, unable to move, stood transfixed by the girl's presence.

"How are you here?" was the question pounding throughout all three of their minds, with Dig somehow managing to string the words together. Shrugging casually, Felicity diverted her attention back to the mess of wires underneath the desk.

"I don't know. I woke up here with Oliver… I mean not with Oliver but with Oliver. I know they sound the same, but they mean something different in my head. I guess I must have passed out during the mission, I don't know. All I know is that Oliver was freaked when he saw me. So, what did I miss?' Felicity drifted off noticing the team's bewildered expressions.

"I think now's a good time to ask, does anyone believe in ghosts?" Roy's attempt at lifting the heavy atmosphere resulted in him earning a painful thump from Sara and a death stare from Dig.

"Not here as in the foundry but here as in… well… alive?" Sara started, not quite sure how to go about wording the impossible.

"Is this a joke? Or a prank?" A confused expression painted itself across Felicity's face as the team responded with only blank expressions.

"Funny, I was going to ask the same," Roy curtly replied, unsure whether this was in fact reality or he had had one too many late nights.

"What is with everyone today? Seriously?" Felicity wondered aloud, why did everyone look like they had seen a ghost?

"Felicity, you were dead. You were shot in the heart with a bullet laced with curare. You died instantly. And that was five days ago." The seriousness in Sara's deadly tone knocked Felicity's balance.

…

Felicity watched in silence as the group huddled together, hushed whispers flying about the room. Though she knew there was a reason the others were leaving her out, Felicity couldn't help but strain her ears to listen in. She could only distinguish the odd word, the rest washing together.

"Mirakuru?" Felicity heard Roy whisper. Almost as if the word was a trigger, blood rushed to Felicity's temples, pulsing through her skull. Clutching the sides of her head in agony, Felicity fell to the floor; the others rushed quickly to her side. It felt like there was a fire burning her skin from inside to out; the searing pain spread rapidly through her body. A nightmarish darkness swept inside her, drowning out the yells of panic from the team. She felt a wet substance gush from her nose and could taste the blood as it dripped onto her lips. Resting her head against the ground, Felicity lost her sight. All she was able to do was sense the team crouched beside her and feel their hands desperately shaking her shoulders, their voices dimly shouting at her to stay awake. Then there was nothing.

When Felicity awoke this time, there was no comfort, no warm presence cradling her. She was left in the chilly basement, the walls towering over her beaten and weak body. Sara placed her hand atop of Felicity's but the comfort it offered couldn't even be compared to Oliver's. An unfamiliar feeling washed over her, it was almost like power or strength flowing through her veins. Sitting up and swinging herself off the metal table, ignoring Sara's protests, Felicity crossed her arms in front of her chest, determined to know what was going on. She was fed up of feeling powerless.

…

It was three hours later and there was still no sign of Oliver. Sensing it was hopeless, the team had given up trying to ring him, his phone going straight to voicemail each time. They had tried to track his phone's GPS and even facial recognition but still nothing came. Roy was now holding his phone at ears length, whilst a high pitched screeching from Thea sounded on the other side. The scene was familiar for Dig and Sara but, in these morbid circumstances, it was impossible to crack their usual smiles at Roy's discomfort. Felicity winced as yet another needle broke her skin, just the thought of something sharp being stuck in her made her feel queasy. The foundry was tense, everyone's frustration becoming more and more apparent each passing minute. Exhaustion showed on them all, wearing them down; no matter how many tests they conducted on Felicity, there still showed no traces of anything abnormal.

Growing impatient, Roy grabbed onto her wrist, dragging the startled girl to the corner of the room. "Punch this," he ordered.

"W-what?" Felicity stuttered back, confused at Roy's instruction. Looking towards the others for support, she was met with shrugging gestures, "I don't want to. I'll end up breaking my hand. I don't care what crazy drug you say I have in me, I'm not risking it." Her face was adamant as Roy let out an exasperated sigh.

''FOR GOD'S SAKE, FELICITY! Nothing else has worked! We need to see if you have the physical effects of the Mirakuru in you. By punching this, we can see your strength," Roy cried, gesturing over to a metal plate discarded on the foundry floor. Felicity's only response was shaking her head repeatedly, causing the room to spin before her eyes.

"FELICITY! I am fed up, okay! I am tired and exhausted and just had to put up with a half an hour long rant from my girlfriend freaking out over the fact that Oliver's missing! You were the one that made him run so just hit the damn thing, alright?" Felicity winced at Roy's outburst; the jab about Oliver leaving was low, she could feel tears prickling at her eyes. Walking over to the piece of metal, Felicity made a fist. Putting her emotions aside, she felt the strength rising through her clenched fist as she threw it towards the target. What followed next caused even the Canary to shudder- the cracking of solid bone filled the room. As Felicity clutched at her broken fist and tried to control the searing pain flooding over her, Roy went to inspect the damage. A clattering noise sounded violently across the room. Directing her attention to it, Felicity saw the metal thrown to the ground, not even the smallest of dents showing. Suddenly, anger flowed through the petite blonde, the fiery substance pumping more violently as it quickly turned to rage against Roy. The suddenness took the group by surprise- they watched the fear as Felicity's eyes clouded with rage. A slow panic filled her entire body as she became paralyzed. She desperately clutched at the last strings of her self-control, but she was trapped, stuck in a body she couldn't control. Losing her inward fight, Felicity reached out her hand, the pain long forgotten about, and grabbed onto the startled red-hooded boy's throat. Pinning him against the wall, she lifted him upwards, leaving his feet dangling. She could feel the other's clawing at her arm, trying to get her to release Roy, but the force inside of her was focused on one thing only; killing. The strength of the Mirakuru made it impossible for the others to tear her away. The look of fear in Roy's eyes was parallel in Felicity's, barely noticeable behind the boiling fury.

"OLIVER!" Felicity blinked at the name, regaining a speck of her control. She could hear Sara repeating his name until it turned into some form of mantra. Felicity attempted to focus all of her attention onto Oliver, like Sara had taught her to overcome her fears. She had to gain control. Imagining he was standing in front of her, she focused on his face. Felicity imagined she could trace her fingers along his every feature. She felt his cleanly shaped eyebrows, and drifted her fingers downwards to rest on his warm cheeks. As the bottom of her hand brushed across his rough stubble, her fingers traced his soft lips into a smile. Felicity could feel her hand loosening and Roy squirming in her grip to escape. Forcing herself to continue, she pictured the moment their lips brushed each other's the first time, feeling the spark of electricity that quickly bonded them together. Finally she felt his smile pressed against her lips as they pulled apart, breathing each other in.

Stumbling backwards, Felicity regained her control, horrified by how close she was to killing Roy. No amount of apologies or words could ever make up for what she had done. She had wanted to kill him. If Sara hadn't said Oliver's name, she would have become her father. Terrified by herself, Felicity was left on the edge of reality, staring across the room, her eyes glazed over. She stood, frozen, her body trapped in the moment as a sharp numbness took control. She stayed motionless, not even flinching, too horrified to move. She could vaguely registered Diggle's firm grip on her arm guiding her over towards the bench and pushing her down until she was in a seated position. Minutes turned into hours in the blink of an eye. Felicity was consciously aware of the team's movements around her, plugging in various drips and taking blood samples but even at the sight of the needle she still didn't blink.

It started with a simple yawn from Roy but soon, one by one, the team's energy began to wane. Straining, Felicity could make out a few words from the group's hushed conversation on the other side of the room and, by the sound of it, it wasn't good news. Any trust or friendship she had spent the last few weeks building up, she had torn away in that one moment. She had tried to hide the look but Sara, Roy and Diggle had seen it; the look of a killer. Dig smiled sympathetically at her as he made his way over, placing a kiss on her forehead. His instructions were clear- she had to stay in the foundry. The team knew she had no control over whatever she had in her and she was a danger to the people of Starling City. Felicity knew it was true but it meant that she would be trapped in this cold basement alone and had no idea how long for.

It had been half an hour since the others had left, it was the first time Felicity had been alone since she had met The Arrow; the first time she wasn't near Oliver. A shrill ringing sounded from Dig's phone, the vibrations against the metal desk filling the room. Unsure whether to answer the ringing, she let the source of noise go to voicemail. When the ringing subsided a deep voice broke into the silence of the room.

"Hello, this is Detective Lance. I'm hoping this is John Diggle, the body guard of Oliver Queen. Look, I know my history with the boy, but I've tried his sister and no-one's answering..." At the sound of his name Felicity leapt across the room, this was the first she had heard of Oliver after he had run from her.

"I may not be particularly keen of the boy, but I'm phoning to let you know that there have been reports of him all across the glades. I have tried to approach him but he's not in his right mind. He just keeps repeating this one name, 'Felicity'. I have no idea who that is, but I think the years on the island are finally catching up on him. He's outside the café on the corner of 5th and the press are having a field day so you better hurry up!"

Attacking the computer keyboard with her fingers, Felicity hacked into the electronic lock to the foundry door and raced out into the club. Pushing through the heavy crowds of dancers and ignoring the pumping music, she raced into the night. The cool rush of air knocked her backwards, the speed she could now travel at startling her. She pelted through the streets, smiling to herself at the thought that, even with all his years of training, she might be faster than Oliver! It took her half an hour of running to reach the scene, yet her body hadn't slowed even once. Shoving her way past reporters with a new determination, she faced the grieving billionaire's back.

Nothing was clear to Oliver. Everything was blurred, all his thoughts jumbled up. The sounds around him blended together, his sight was a mixture of different lights in the dark sky, and incessant bright flashes. Then then strangest feeling came over him. The skin prickled on his pack, his hair stood on end. Oliver turned to see the source of his reaction. There, standing no more than 20 feet away, was a woman. The same woman he had watched die. The woman he had let die; the love of his life. Tears prickled at his eyes; was he dreaming? Was she really alive? Did that mean he had run from her when she needed him most? He took a tentative step towards the smiling figure, his feet carrying his numb body. Quickly he found himself running towards her. Unable to stop, he crashed into her delicate form, knocking them both to the ground. Placing one arm either side of her breathless body, he breathed her name incredulously.

"Felicity?"

Oblivious to the crowd and noises around them, he rested his face a hair away from hers. Running his finger across her face, he gently wiped the tears from her cheeks. Not being able to stand another second apart, he plunged his lips onto hers. It was like a kiss from the greatest romance novel. The pair became overrun with emotions, from desire and passion to relief to anger. He moved his body closer to hers until they became one. Gasping, they pulled apart, but still not moving away from each other. A second later, the perfectness of the moment vanished.

Felicity felt a pair of strong hands on her shoulders, tugging them apart. She tried to resist, but being this close to Oliver made her thoughts unclear and run wild. The cold air replaced his warmth as she was pulled away. She knew she wasn't in danger, she'd recognised the team instantly. The shock on Oliver's face was clear as they ushered him into a separate van from her. Oliver watched helpless, restrained by Detective Lance and Sara, as the van stole Felicity away from him. There were no words to describe his thoughts, and no answers to the millions of questions that tortured his head. Why would the team do this to him? He had just got the love of his life back and now she was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, glad you have all stuck with the story so far and all your support has been amazing so thank you!!!! Also I now have a beta Rebekah96 so a massive thank you to her! Hope you enjoyed this chapter, please let me know what you thought and I will see you all soon :)


	8. Blue Against Blue

"Oliver! Would you stop sulking and just tell me what the hell happened?"' It was the high pitched sound of a feminine voice that brought him out of the depth of his mind. For the first time, he finally took in his surroundings, noticing instantly that he was slumped on his overly expensive couch in the family living quarters. An army of maids were rushing around him Thea, preparing for the return of Mrs Queen and Walter, who had announced their early departure after hearing of Oliver's episode. Abruptly jumping onto his feet, Oliver decided that enough was enough. It didn't matter what the team thought, of course he understood that Felicity was dangerous, but she would never hurt him. And he was The Arrow, for God's sake! It's not as if he was defenceless. Pushing past a startled Thea, he made his way towards the door and clambered onto his bike, blocking out the yells of confusion Thea cast behind him.

By the time Oliver made it to the foundry, Digg, Sara and Roy were guarding the entrance, having predicted his return.

"Well, looks like I was right! He didn't even last a day- hand over the money guys!" Roy joked, ignoring the scowls plastered over his companions' faces.

"Let me in now!" Oliver's 'Arrow' voice (as Felicity liked to call it) caught the attention of a group of intoxicated teens chattering away in the almost empty nightclub. It was only in the early hours of the evening, just before darkness had started to drift in. The low vibrations of the calming music from the speakers contrasted the club's normal noise level. Dragging Oliver by the arm, Sara guided him aside, away from the groups prying eyes.

"I don't know how many times we are going to have to explain this to you. From what we can tell, the Mirakuru in her is controlled by her emotions. Presuming her death triggered the change, she had Mirakuru running through her veins for less than an hour before she tried to kill Roy. She is a danger and, if Felicity got out, the whole of Starling City will be at risk. I don't care if you think I'm exaggerating but I am not putting my family's life on the line because you have feelings for her. So until we figure out a way to get rid of the drug from her system, you have to stay away. You saw what she did to Roy," Sara spoke without hesitation, knowing it was harsh, but putting the team's thoughts bluntly was the only way to get Oliver to understand.

Oliver blinked at Sara's abruptness and continued to struggle against her to get to the foundry. "What if you can't get the Mirakuru out of her?" he spoke, cautious of the answer, freezing at her response.

"Then we do what needs to be done. We put her down." Dig's gasp mirrored both Roy and Oliver's; they knew in any other circumstances they wouldn't hesitate to agree, but this was Felicity- pure, innocent, babbling Felicity. Surely this was not an actual option? But the stone-cold look in Sara's eyes told the team that it was. After several more seconds of struggling, it was clear Oliver was not going to be giving up any time soon, so the team gave up and watched as he rushed towards the foundry door.

Her bright, sandy coloured hair caught his attention immediately, causing Oliver to lose his footing and stumble down the last couple of steps. At the sound, the frightened blond turned towards him, a smile already playing on her lips as if she knew it was him before she laid her eyes on him. But this time things were different- there was no running into each other's arms, no desperate kiss. They stood in silence, the walls towering over them seemingly growing taller. Neither knew what to do, or how to react. Oliver felt a smile tug at the corner of his lips at seeing her so close, but he fought against it. Oliver's body ached to touch her smooth skin but he knew he couldn't. He knew he couldn't let himself get any closer; they were already risking everything just being this close to each other. Finally, Oliver gave in, taking a tentative step towards her but almost simultaneously the blond retreated backwards, equalling the distance.

"I don't want to hurt you. I can't." The words that left her lips came out in almost a whisper, as a look of hurt came across Oliver's face.

"You won't," he replied thickly, as he reached his hand out towards her shaking shoulder. Felicity sighed into his touch, allowing herself a moment of pleasure before stepping away once again.

"Don't make this any harder than it already is." Felicity had had the exact same conversation with the others as she had heard Oliver have with them moments before he came into the foundry. She knew the Mirakuru somehow latched itself onto her emotions and, during her fit of rage that had sparked out of nowhere, she felt her humanity drain from herself. As much as the feeling terrified her, she was even more petrified of herself if she hurt Oliver. "I have no control," she argued, trying to make Oliver see that she was doing this to keep him safe.

"Then let me show you," his simple reply changed the tension quickly. Oliver knew he couldn't ever be with Felicity again after what had happened. No, he didn't care about the Mirakuru; it was the fact that he had almost got her killed. If it wasn't for this drug then he would have lost his light. So who cares whether she hurt him? It was the drug, after all, that brought her back to him, so whatever pain it caused he would happily take. But, right now, he refused to let this girl be put in any more danger than necessary- he wouldn't let any harm come to her. He had to keep her safe, even if that meant letting her go.

Stripping off his shirt, he made his way over to the training mats and watched as her bouncing ponytail left his vision, immediately dimming the room as she left to change. Oliver had learnt to channel his emotions through pushing his body past its limits. For him, training was a way to fuse off any worked up rage, a way to escape from the struggles of the world and a way to master complete control, with only the sound of your pulsing heart beating to listen to. Oliver was determined to teach Felicity control. It was his fault she had died and triggered the Mirakuru, so they would get through this- together.

When Felicity returned, the pair went through basic movements, stripping any complex moves away to focus on basic structure and technique. After every slight stumble, and every time Felicity's punch landed virtually on the edge of the pad, far from its target, Felicity felt a boiling heat swirling in the pit of her stomach. Pushing the anger down, she tried again.

"This is useless! Everything is different now," Felicity had just about given up, her words coming across in an almost shout.

"Hey, just stop for a second, okay? You need to keep control. What do you mean, it's all different?" Oliver placed a calming hand on her arm, pulling back as soon as he felt sparks tingle across his now heated skin. He couldn't be with her, he had to keep away. Slumping to the ground, Felicity looked up as Oliver mirrored her movement, crouching down beside her.

"This is going to sound crazy, but it's like all my senses are heightened. It's hard to focus on one thing in particular, everything is kind of smushing together-"

'Smushing?' Oliver interrupted with a shake of his head, a grin spreading across his face.

'You know, like… mushed together… You know what, it doesn't matter. The point is, it's all getting a bit much so I can't concentrate on anything," she finished, exasperated.

Oliver didn't reply, he simply took her extended hand and pulled her upright. He returned a minute later carrying a small wooden bowl, water splashed over the edges as he walked towards her. Oliver was completely unaware of the wet trail he was leaving across the floor- his gaze was held, enticed by her smile.

"Oh no not the dreaded bowl!" She joked, pretending to be horrified at the sight. A small glimmer of happiness broke the tension but just as quickly as it came it vanished.

"I'm guessing Roy has told you all about this then,"' he smiled at her exaggerated head nods.

"He whines about it 24/7!'" Her feminine laugh caused the corners of Oliver's mouth to curl upwards slightly.

…

Several hours had past and Felicity and Oliver were in the same position following the same monotonous routine. Oliver was sat beside her, staring at the salmon ladder and every now and again would get up and refill the bowl. The others had come and gone- Roy's laugh could still be heard bouncing off the walls when he had seen Felicity's unamused face sending death stares at the bowl. After repeatedly feeling his gaze drift towards the Felicity, Oliver grew impatient.

"Let's spar." His voice was sudden in the silent hours of the early evening and startled Felicity. She didn't need to be told twice and jumped up, putting as much distance between the bowl and herself as possible and joined Oliver back on the training mats.

Half an hour of throwing drilled techniques at each other and Felicity still wasn't tiring. She knew that soon she would have to stop and it had nothing to do with her new ridiculously high fitness levels. It was more to do with the fact that her entire vision was filled with Oliver's sweating body and it didn't help that he was topless. Channelling her attention back to the techniques that he had taught her, she leapt forward, trying to catch him off-guard. But Oliver was quicker and easily slid out of the way. Slipping into a clench position, he swept the supporting leg from under her, throwing her towards the ground. Running on pure instinct, Felicity grabbed onto his shoulder blades, her new force pulling both of them to the ground. Oliver gulped, feeling her warm breath against his cheek. His arms were either side of her shoulders, supporting his body in a plank position so they were almost touching but not quite. Oliver could feel the warmth radiating off her stilled body. He fought an unbeatable battle against himself, but, giving in, he caught her quick glance towards his lips, their blue eyes joining together. As soon as they linked, he realised his mistake- Oliver knew he wouldn't be able to look away again. He needed Felicity in his life- it was verging on impossible to not be with her, to not be able to touch her even a simple hand on her arm in support or to brush away a loose strand of hair. Oliver knew that as soon as he looked into her eyes, he was gone.

Felicity struggled half-heartedly against his grip and enjoyed the close proximity for a few more seconds. Before it looked like she was purposely delaying her escape, she fought her body at the pull to stay this close and knocked Oliver's arms from under him, making him loose his balance. Felicity cursed herself at not having thought her plan through the second she felt Oliver's startled body toppling onto of hers, sinking into her warm skin. Her body caught on fire at the touch of his cheek against her chest. Panic set into her, she was sure she would lose control any second now. Felicity pulled herself away suddenly, jumping up, her feet carrying her to the other side of the foundry. Facing the blank wall she blinked, furiously, trying to regain her composure.

Oliver quickly followed, brushing his hand along her shoulder. Spinning her around, Oliver reached upwards gently, wiping away the tears slipping from her eyes. He hated himself for making her like this. A dull ache pitted in the depth of his stomach when he realised he had hurt her, she was crying because of him.

"Felicity, we need to talk-"' he started, taking a step closer towards her. Oliver saw her visibly flinch as his hand made contact, his finger froze halfway through trailing across her cheek as he gaped up at her with wide eyes, realising what he was doing.

"Don't. I don't walk to talk, which, for me, I know is a little unprecedented. But, as soon as we talk, it's over." Felicity let her breath escape her, struggling to find the words, "I heard what the others said to you and I can tell by the look in your eyes what you are going to say." Taking a step backwards, Oliver felt the floor being ripped out from under him.

"I'm so sorry," he told the ground, unable to bring himself to look her in the eye. Doing this hurt him enough without seeing her tears.

"Urrgghh! You're so annoying, you know that, right? I knew you were going to do this. I knew the second I was with you, the moment anything happened to me you were going to do this." Felicity's outburst took Oliver by surprise, she heard him try to interrupt but carried on regardless, "I'm an adult, Oliver! I have the frickin' Mirakuru in me which means that, even if I do get hurt, I'll be healed by the next day!"

Shaking his head, Oliver replied. "It doesn't matter. Felicity, you died! I held your body in my arms- do you know what that is like? Knowing that you died because of me? There are so many ways you can get hurt; being with The Arrow isn't safe. Even if you do heal, I don't know if I will be able to see you get hurt which means you're a distraction."

"I'm a distraction?" The words physically angered Felicity and, as much as she was trying to control herself, she felt everything start to slip away.

'No, no, no! That's not what I meant! Look, I thought I could be me and The Arrow, but I can't. Not now. Maybe not ever..." Anger bubbled inside of her, hurt cutting away at her insides.

"No! This is not fair. I don't care whether I'm with Ollie, the millionaire playboy, or Oliver Queen, the CEO of Queen Consolidated, or The Arrow, the masked vigilante that became the city's own guardian angel. I don't want to be with just Oliver Queen, I want to be with all of you. Whatever danger it puts me in, I know it will be worth it. You always said I was your light, that I made your life worth living. But let me tell you, what you want us to do now? That's not living, that's hiding. You want me to hide from the truth, hide from anything that could possibly harm me. My Dad, he's out there looking for me and you think me being associated with The Arrow will put me in danger? Well, let me tell you something. That is nothing in comparison- you don't know what he is capable of. I've learnt one thing in those years I hid in abandoned buildings, on the run, covering my face from anyone I passed. And that one thing is that you can't stay hidden forever." Oliver closed the distance between them, lifting his thumb up he carefully wiped away the single tear trail running down Felicity's face. Leaving his finger lingering there a moment too long he felt a blinding heat pass over him. His eyes drifted from hers, falling unto her lips in desire. He gently moved his hand across her soft skin until it was resting on the back of her neck. Leaning in, the feeling of his body a centimetre from hers sent a shiver down his spine. Her eyes watched his innocently, and Oliver could see her mind whirring at 100 miles per hour trying to calculate his next move. To be honest, Oliver wasn't even sure what it would be. Would they stay safe and hidden or would they take a blind leap of faith?

It was Felicity that took matters into her own hands. Leaning forward, she brushed her lips briefly against his. Her eyes once again looking up at Oliver's expectantly, blue against blue. It was Oliver's choice to make, desire tingled across her spine, her impatience growing at her need for Oliver's answer. The breath hitched in her throat as he cupped her cheek, a small trail of fire being left in its wake as he moved his hand towards her lips. He traced his thumb gently across her bottom lip and soon it became all too much. Leaning towards her, he plunged his lips into hers. Passion ran wild, every problem, every obstacle, long forgotten about in this one moment. The pure perfectness of the moment only lasted a blink of an eye as Oliver's mind caught up with him. Stepping back sharply; an icy coldness replaced the fire. He pulled away, his expression fuelled with guilt; he was supposed to keep her safe. And just like that every single heated desire vanished.

"I'm sorry, I can't. I was supposed to keep you safe. You need to stay away from me. This was a mistake, I gave in and I'm sorry" At this, a long forgotten rage boiled inside of Felicity.

"You can't keep pushing me around Oliver! You either want to be with me or not," she spat at him. The uncontrollable fury suffocated her, leaving her powerless. Before her mind could register her movements her hands were placed on his shoulders, pushing him away from her. Felicity pushed him with every ounce of rage and pain he had caused her, channelling her movements. "STOP DANGLING MAYBES!" Felicity watched in horror, rooted to the spot on the floor as if she was tied down. She felt a band in her chest snap as his defenceless body flew through the air. With a thump, he landed roughly against the glass cabinet that contained The Arrow suit. The case shattered at the weight of his body, deadly shards of glass littering the floor. She rushed over to the unmoving heap.

"No .. please…. Oliver, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean-" Sobs choked out the final words of her cry. She fell beside his unconscious body, cradling his head to her chest. Running her hands across his cheek her tears fell silently onto his chest, running along his scars.

Oliver awoke, gulping down air, his mind whirring at what had happened. The team was right, it wasn't him putting her in danger, it was the other way around. Oliver had refused to believe the girl that made him smile could be capable of such destruction. He was stunned, unmoving as Felicity held him in her arms. They stayed like that as seconds turned into minutes but she still couldn't let him go. Oliver had assured her he was fine and was now currently trying to convince her that it wasn't her fault. He was half way through explaining about how the Mirakuru had affected Roy when a sharp trilling sound cut him off. Untangling himself from her arms, Oliver paced over to where his phone was vibrating against the desk. A startled expression appearing on his face at the sound of Detective Lance's voice asking for The Arrow. Looking towards Felicity she responded with a nod.

"Go and find out what he wants, I'll sort this out," she said, gesturing towards the mess on the floor. Witnessing his hesitation, she followed up with a more forceful voice, "Go."

...

Darkness began to sweep over the city, leaving only the dim street lights to make the abandoned street corners glow in the early evening. A winter breeze wiped against The Arrow's bare cheek but it was nothing compared to the cold he had suffered through before. Keeping his back turned away from the waiting figure, he discreetly switched on his voice modulator. The gruffness of his voice, made Detective Lance jump as he waited for his hooded friend.

"Detective, what do you want?"

"Well, it's nice to see you're as charming as ever," his comment caused a muffled huff from The Arrow as he gestured to continue, "Take a look at these." Lance reached forward, handing the vigilante an official looking brown folder, "It's the police file from the night you let the Reaper Brother's slip through your fingers," His last comment caused a growl to emerge from the Arrow's mouth, although little did he know that it was due to the icy memories of Felicity's blood soaking through her clothes as she lay lifeless in his arms. The Arrow pulled out the middle sheet of paper and gasped. There, in the centre of the page was a blurred picture of Felicity, possibly taken from a street camera.

"What is this?" The sudden protectiveness in his voice took Lance by surprise.

"What, do you know her or something?" His question was met with a scowl; sighing, he continued, "It seems that the psycho Reaper Brother's set a trap that night. Left in what looked like the remains of some kind of sick, torture room was this picture, half burned. I had Kelton search all known data bases with no such luck to find anything on this girl. I believe she was the intended target. Anyway, yesterday I met with one Mr Oliver Queen and that was when I got my first glimpse of the girl. I don't know what it is about that boy that causes all females to fall under his spell but, judging by the way they acted around each other, he obviously cared for her. All I know is that her name is Felicity. I've searched everywhere but can't even find a last name, it's like she doesn't exist…" Lance continued to talk but Oliver was far away, the horror of somebody wanting to hurt Felicity blinding his vision.

Shoving the file back into Detective's hands, The Arrow scowled and stalked away. Firing an arrow onto the building opposite, he leapt from the roof, swinging into the quickly blackening sky.

"A 'thank you' wouldn't have hurt," Lance muttered into the near night air.

Oliver barely flinched at the sound of Thea entering the main lounge of the Queen mansion.

"Hey mopey, what ya doin' ?" She nudged him playfully only earning a glare back. "Where's Felicity? I miss my smiley brother. I'm beginning to think that you are keeping her hidden from me. Ollie, you have to learn to share you know!" Thea continued to tease him despite his absent response. "Fine grumpy, I'm going," she announced, and flounced back out of the room as quickly as she had entered, her hair flowing dramatically behind her.

Oliver sighed as he noted Diggle approach from the doorway, having heard his lack of conversation with Thea. "I heard Detective Lance gave The Arrow a call," he stated, suddenly worried at Oliver's misery. Exhaling, Oliver twisted round on the enormous sofa so that he was facing Dig.

"He wanted to talk about the night that Felicity-" Oliver felt his tongue suddenly turn heavy, his mouth dry as sandpaper as he struggled to finish his sentence. Following Dig's understanding nod to carry on, he spoke with more precision now. "Apparentl,y the building went up in flames shortly after we left. He said the only thing the police could salvage from the wreckage was a barely distinguishable picture of Felicity. They are working on the theory that the Reaper Brother's had set up a trap, the intended victim being Felicity. We were wrong, they weren't trying to capture The Arrow; they were after Felicity."

Dig followed Oliver's statement, his thoughts trying to process what was being said.

"How did she take it? Does Felicity think it was her father?'" His eyes watched silently as a guilty, pained expression fell over Oliver. "You haven't told her?" His question came out forcefully, taking on the role of an accusation. "Look, I know you want to protect her but, from what I have seen, Felicity is one of the strongest people I have been around. She deserves to know the truth, no matter how much it will hurt her." Dig could still sense Oliver hesitation and guessed that he was leaving something out. Witnessing the brief flicker of fear in Oliver's eyes made Dig shiver; if Oliver had shown him a glimpse of his true emotions then something was very wrong. "You're scared she's going to leave, aren't you?" His mind slotted the jigsaw together and Oliver's uncomfortable shifting confirmed his suspicions.

"Felicity already believes that she is putting the team in danger because of the Mirakuru- I don't know how she will react knowing that two of the most dangerous men to walk the earth are after her." Oliver's blue eyes became crushed, the fear of losing the one he loved becoming too much.

Hating seeing his friend like this, Dig placed his hand on Oliver's knee and asked quietly, "Why are you so sure she will leave?"

"Because that's what I did." His chilling reply froze the silence in the room for a second.

"Hey, you have to tell her, man. For all we know, the cops could be wrong."

"You think they made up the evidence?" Hope fuelled Oliver's voice.

Forcing their eyes to meet Dig answered. "All I'm saying is that the picture could have been planted after the fire. We don't know. But I do know that being The Arrow means you gain a lot of enemies and I wouldn't put it past them to do something like this." Giving Oliver a gentle squeeze on the shoulder, Dig pushed himself from his crouching position and began to walk back towards the doorway.

The deafening sound of glass shattering around them brought both Oliver and Dig to their feet in a matter of seconds. Adrenaline pulsed through them as they charged towards the source of noise. There, standing in the hallway, were three figures, dressed in full back. Noticing their similar attire to the League sent an icy shiver down Oliver's spine. The three immediately engaged in contact, lashing out at Oliver and Dig. Clocking his surroundings Oliver noticed one of the mansion's bodyguards lying in a heap, soaking the dark carpet a deep red. Within seconds, Oliver knew this was Arrow business. The figures moved like shadows and Oliver could tell by their moves that they had had serious training. Two of the masked intruders were circling Oliver. Blocking a jab to the chin, Oliver fiercely grabbed hold of the man's arm, kicking his foot into his knee. At the sudden unbalance, the man toppled forward. Using this distraction, Oliver launched forward, throwing the man across the room. The sudden crash of the windows glass from upstairs caught Oliver's attention. Using Oliver's moment of distraction to his advantage, the figure landed a punch, causing droplets of blood to dribble down Oliver's face from his split lip. Spitting out a mouthful of blood, he let his instincts take control. Dodging blows from the skilled attacker, Oliver slid an arm around the man's neck. Applying the lock, Oliver watched as the air began to drain from the man's lungs. Feeling the new dead weight in his arms he rushed to join Dig who had taken several injuries already.

Thea. The realisation dawned on him. Thea was upstairs and so was the fourth intruder he had heard breaking the window. Movement twitched in the corner of his eye as the first intruder began to stir. Oliver threw himself behind an upturned coffee table as an antique looking dagger flew past his chest. Grabbing the dagger from the floor he saw the man's body still as a shot from Dig rippled into his chest. Making sure his partner could handle himself, Oliver raced up the stairs towards Thea's room. Her terrified scream sending blood and rage rushing through his body. Forcefully kicking in the door, he flew into the room.

"WHERE IS SHE?" the intruder roared at the shaking girl. Wincing, Oliver saw his sister pinned against the wall, a steel blade pressing into her throat. Violent tears rushed down her paled face, terror clouding over the usual youthful glint in her eyes. "Step any closer and she dies" the intruder's dark voice sank its claws into the fear pulsating through the room. Without thinking, Oliver let his killer instincts take over, his sole focus on saving his sister. Oliver threw the dagger forcefully at the man's neck, watching it sink quickly into its target. Thea gasped in horror as the man's lifeless body slumped on top of her, the warm red liquid from his neck drowning her clothes. Throwing the man's body from hers, she backed away, panic stripping away at her. Looking across the room at her brother, she saw the dulled, emotionless look in his eyes- the look of a killer. Oliver tried to step towards his terrified sister but she cried in fear.

"You killed him," her words twisted a knife into Oliver's stomach. He never meant for his family to find out but he didn't have a choice. Thea was barely able to look at her brother. Of all the things she knew Oliver had done, he was hardly innocent, but the empty look in his eyes told Thea that he had killed before. Thousands of conflicting emotions flooded through her, focusing on the dead body sprawled across her bedroom floor and suddenly it all became too much. Oliver watched in pain as his sister retched in the corner of the room. Placing his hand on her arm he tried to hold back her loose hair but instead a cold shiver shot through Thea's core and she brushed him away harshly.

"I didn't have a choice. He was going to kill you," Oliver reasoned, attempting to defend his secret as The Arrow. Seeing the way Thea looked at him had been a chilling realisation. If Thea believed he was a killer then it wouldn't take long before she matched the dots and figured out he was The Arrow.

However, moving forward, Thea wrapped her arms around Oliver and sobbed into his shoulder.

"I'm so sorry!" Her words took him by surprise. Swiping a lock of fallen hair from her face, he looked down at her in confusion. "I'm sorry for teasing you before about hiding Felicity from me. I'm glad you kept her away," Thea's words came out muffled and disjointed as she cried harder, her tears soaking through Oliver's jacket. The next sentence that left his sister's mouth tore at Oliver painfully. "The intruder said... he said he was after Felicity. He was going to... He was going to kill her."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I cannot say it enough times but thank you all so much for the comments and for reading the story :) Thanks to my beta Rebekah96 :) Hope you all enjoyed this chapter and as always, let me know what you thought :)


	9. Family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, I'm so glad you are all liking this story so far, so thank you for all the kudos and comments! Also a massive thank you to my amazing beta Rebekah96! I love how this chapter turned out in the end as the last few paragraphs are pure fluff so enjoy and please let me know what you think :)

Oliver caught Dig's eye the second he walked in the room. Knowing that he had just finished giving his statement, he wandered over to him, silently asking how it had gone. Dig barely had enough time to give a small nod before Detective Lance strolled over, eyeing Oliver suspiciously.

"So, I've just spoken to Thea and it seems that all of this is to do with one Felicity Smoak. Care to comment Queen?"

Oliver paled at the mention of her name, clamping his hands together and shaking his head. Lance exhaled loudly.

"What is it about you, Queen, that causes trouble to follow? Listen- either you tell me nicely now what connection Miss Smoak has in all of this or you can do so down at the precinct and I'm pretty sure you do not want the media finding out your involvement," his tone came off friendly but Oliver knew how real the detective's threat was. Unsure what to say, Oliver stared at the man, his mouth opening slightly before quickly deciding to shut it again; he had to be careful what he said, he would not be the person to give Felicity up.

Looking around the room, Oliver witnessed the amount of chaos surrounding the mansion. Thea's small body was curled up on the sofa, a tatted blue blanket draped over her frightened self. There were two officers crouching next to her, one had his hand placed on her shoulder, trying to comfort her. All Oliver wanted was to free her from the fear and sadness consuming her, but Thea refused to even make eye contact with him. Although the blanket was covering her entire body, Oliver could still see her blood-stained hands and the distant gaze dominating her eyes.

Drifting his attention back across the room he saw the masses of bullet holes littered across the décor; the main table lay in pieces across the stained carpet, scattered among the shattered shards of glass. Men in uniform swarmed about the place, some frantically scribbling down notes, whilst others stood aside,chatting to one another or speaking into their phones in hushed tones. Both Oliver and Dig had come up with a quick cover story but asking Thea to leave Felicity's name out would have raised suspicion and Oliver knew his sister was bright enough to figure something out. The sound of Lance's voice brought Oliver's attention back to the man in front of him.

"So you are saying that, Mr Diggle is it?, guided you to safety the moment the attackers came in so you were hiding in servants quarters the whole time? And then hearing Thea's screams you decided to play hero, steal a knife off one of the attackers, throw it and it somehow landed in the guy's neck?", Lance questioned, the disbelief evident as sarcasm laced his words. Noticing Oliver's attention had once again drifted, again to Felicity, he sighed, "I give up!" he muttered, throwing his hand in the air in annoyance and pulling out his phone. Turning, he began to dial the number The Arrow had given him. The sound of a phone trilling pricked his ears as the detective whipped around in shock, staring at the source. Before Lance had to chance to dream up any crazy Arrow theories, Oliver showed Lance his phone's screen.

"It's my mom. I better take this." With this, Oliver quickly strode away, adrenaline making its way across his body at the near exposure. Detective Lance shook his head in disbelief; he had had his suspicions about Oliver being The Arrow for the past few years now, but there was no way that was just a coincidence. Shaking himself from his thoughts, he focused on the gruff voice of The Arrow.

"What is it, Detective?"

"Felicity Smoak. There was a break in at the Queen mansion and the perpetrators were after her."

"I am well aware," The sharpness of his voice made Lance wince, both Oliver and The Arrow were just as equally protective over this Felicity, he noted.

"How did you...? Right, you're The Arrow, got it. What are you going to do about this? This Felicity girl is now endangering the general public and no matter who I talk to, she still doesn't exist. So do you care to tell me why a girl has trained assassins after her? Or at least tell me this... Who the hell is Felicity Smoak?" Detective Lance let out a groan as his question was met by a frustrated growl, "I'm presuming Miss Smoak is with you, so can you at least tell me if she's safe?" Lance was pleased to find out something, as The Arrow responded with a simple 'yes' before hanging up the phone.

Gesturing to his team, Lance passed Oliver, simply stating "We'll be in touch, Queen," before his men emptied the mansion. Thea appeared by his side and spoke, her voice shaking despite her attempts to appear strong.

"Mom said she'll be here in a couple of hours. She took the private jet back as soon as she heard about the break in, but Walter had to stay at the offices, something business related he needs to sort out." Placing a gentle hand on her shoulder in sympathy, a pang of guilt coursed in him as Thea shrugged away his contact. "I just need to be alone right now," Thea replied to his unspoken question monotonously, her expression blank. Oliver nodded despite his better judgement and left the house unwillingly, instructing Dig to stay behind and watch over Thea.

Felicity had heard about the break in, it was actually near impossible to miss given it had been playing on repeat across all the news channels.

'To be fair, though, four trained assassins breaking into a billionaire's mansion probably would raise a lot of suspicion!' Felicity laughed to herself. Despite what had gone on, she was angry that Oliver hadn't even called to let her know he was okay and it's not as if Felicity had a phone to call him. She had debated contacting him through social media, but she doubted he would check them at a time like this.

Sighing angrily, Felicity walked over to the training dummies with full intention of letting out her frustration. Apart from the ruined glass case, there was no evidence that anything had happened in the foundry and Felicity wanted to keep it that way. She had so much rage at herself for losing control and, if anything, punching the dummies only seemed to make her angrier.

Falling to the ground breathless, she could feel the beginnings of tears prickling at her eyes, why wouldn't anything work? Why did it have to be her? And why did all of this have to happen when, for the first time, she had been truly happy?

The questions taunted Felicity until she couldn't bear it anymore. She needed a new method, a new way to deal with her heightened emotions. Thinking back to Sara's training she closed her eyes; 'trust your environment'- that had been the first thing Sara had told her. 'You don't need to see to know what is around you'. 'Trust your senses'. Following the words Sara had once told her, she slowly relaxed, taking in a deep until her lungs felt like they would burst and exhaled every dark memory, every fear, and every emotion from herself. 'Learn to control your senses one by one'; Felicity focused on sound, she could hear the faint dripping of pipes in the background, the low music from the club upstairs swirling with chattering and laughing. Singling out a single thing like Sara had told her, she found a voice she knew too well; Oliver. Straining her ears she focused on the gruffness, the protectiveness in him, his concern and worry for her colouring the conversation. Felicity was surprised at her hearing ability; the Mirakuru really must have heightened everything. She let his love for her flow across her skin as she flexed her arms, causing a warm light-headed feeling to surround her. Next, Felicity channelled all of her concentration into her sense of smell; the remaining coffee aroma fought against Oliver's lingering scent. No matter what expensive cologne he used to cover it up, his natural woodsy smell was never entirely obscured. Felicity smiled, filling her nostrils with the fresh, outdoorsy smell that she was all too familiar with. She knew it was stupid, but it was so much more than just a smell. Smelling him, she felt protected, and she knew that, as long as he was here, she would be safe. Felicity had never trusted anyone as she does Oliver and, if anything, it frightened her, how much control they had over each other. Moving on, she turned her attention to her touch, the cool floor feeling almost icy underneath her fingertips. She could feel the cold air against her bare feet, and, scrunching her toes, she felt at peace. Her head was titled to one side, resting on a stone pillar, the action bringing her back to when her and Oliver had just met. She had been frightened and shivering but instead of throwing her a blanket, Oliver had seen her fear and had wrapped his arms around her, enveloping her trembling body and then draped a blanket over them both. He had sat by her the entire night, watching over her and comforting her whenever a horrific nightmare broke into her sleep. Reaching upward, she traced a thin line over her bottom lip, lost in the memory of Oliver's taste. It left its mark on her. Nothing but warmth flooded her, remembering how Oliver's lips brushed against her own.

Oliver had returned to the foundry on his own, preparing himself to finally come clean about the danger Felicity was in. He hated to be the one to break her smile but he couldn't avoid this any longer. Surprise was the first thing to overcome him. Oliver was expecting Felicity to be attacking the pads in a Mirakuru-incuded rage but instead she was sitting peacefully on the floor, her legs sprawled out in front of her.

Oliver called out softly, not wanting to startle her, but she didn't respond. Trying another tactic, he crouched down a couple of metres away and tried again. But still no response. Debating what to do, he shuffled forward, his legs either side of hers, and paused, their bodies mere inches from one another. Reaching his outstretched hand to her shoulder, his plan was to gently shake her shoulder until she came out from lost within her deep thoughts. His hand froze, transfixed by her movements. She was gently tracing a line on her lower lip, humming happily. Straight away Oliver knew she was replaying their kiss in her mind. A low heat began to expand from Oliver's body; they were supposed to be broken up, he was supposed to be keeping her safe, but seeing her like this bulldozed the wall he spent the last few hours building up. His emotions were now free, the passion he felt for her escaping into every thought, every memory, and every sense he had. Oliver was concentrated so much on what to do that he hadn't noticed Felicity's eyes flickering open and resting on his. Being this close to Oliver caused a fire to start at the pit of her stomach, hungry for more and ready to devour anything in its path. It was the moment Felicity started to chew on her lower lip, an action that was second nature to her whenever her nerves took over, that finally drew Oliver's last straw.

He leapt forward, her lips immediately reacting to his. His grip on reality had finally loosened and, in that moment, he let go. He could feel himself falling, tumbling downwards without a care, simply enjoying the thrill it gave him. Oliver leant forward, deepening the kiss, unable to resist touching her. Startled at the sudden passion, they toppled backwards until his body was on top of hers. Felicity shivered as she saw Oliver's eyes darken at their new proximity.

"I guess we aren't broken up anymore," Felicity mumbled in between kisses as Oliver targeted her neck. A soft murmur escaped her lips, making Oliver release a dark smile, his gaze never leaving her eyes for more than a couple of seconds.

She slid her hands underneath his shirt, feeling every mark, every scar, everything that made him the man she had fallen for. A sudden urge took over as she traced an old bullet wound placed just underneath his ribcage, lifting his shirt up further she placed a delicate kiss in its place. Oliver could tell what she was doing; replacing every dark memory with love and passion. Their eyes met, hers asking silently about his scars. It made his heart race, that she was making sure he was comfortable with her touching his scars; such a locked up part of his past.

Pulling away, Felicity locked her eyes with his, breathless and slightly dazed. It was only the sound of Dig clearing his throat that fully brought the pair back to reality. Immediately taking in Felicity's swollen lips and her blushing cheeks, Dig sighed.

"I take it the talk went well, then?" Not expecting a response, he continued, "Oliver, we need to leave in an hour if you want to make your family dinner." Shaking his head, Dig left, knowing the pair needed privacy.

"Wait, what talk? Oliver, what talk?" Noticing Oliver's hesitance, fear washed over Felicity. Reaching for her hand, Oliver guided her to the other end of the foundry, perching on the edge of the cot.

"I'm so sorry. I wanted to protect you but I don't think I can." The immediate change in atmosphere was evident throughout the basement, creating an uneasy feeling between the two of them.

"Oliver, you're scaring me," a small whimper left Felicity's lips as she spoke; The Arrow was supposed to be fierce and brave, somebody strong, someone that made others cower in fear. But this time, Oliver had turned a pale shade, a thin line of sweat lined his skin and his eyes had widened in fear.

"Promise me one thing first."

"Of course, anything."

"Promise me that you won't leave. That no matter what happens, you won't leave. Team Arrow, we need you, we can't manage without you."

"Oliver, you all managed perfectly fine before I came along," she retorted, confused at what Oliver was saying.

"I can't manage without you. I can't live without you. Ever since I got back from the Island, even before, I was miserable. Before you came, I was a killer, not a hero. But then you came. You are my light, Felicity, you were the one that made me into a hero, and if you left I couldn't carry on, and I wouldn't be able to go back to how I was, I would be lost. So promise me that, no matter what happens, you won't leave me, because I need you in my life."

Felicity's lips formed into a perfect circle, a small gasp escaping at his confession.

"I promise,' she smiled, never breaking eye contact, watching as his face mirrored hers, "I would never leave you."

Taking a deep breath, Oliver began to talk. He told her about his meeting with Detective Lance, he told her that The Reaper Brothers were after her, not the city, he told her about the break in, the way the attacker threatened Thea, looking for her, and he held her in his arms as she broke down each sob that erupted, causing her whole body to shake.

Finally pulling away, Felicity stood up slowly turning to face Oliver who had followed her up.

"Thank you," she smiled shyly. Oliver bent down and grabbed his dropped bow from the floor. "By the way, are you going to explain why you are all arrowed-up?" she teased him, snatching the bow from his hands and mimicking firing it.

"I needed to clear my head before I came here." Opening her mouth, she began to ask him to expand, but quickly changed her mind, knowing he would open up when he was ready.

"So why did you decide to come here? You could have just gone straight to your family dinner rather than being late, and I have heard from Thea that your mom is not one to be messed with!" she chuckled softly, glad that Thea had seemed to include her as part of their family.

"Truthfully? I left the comms on to check on you, and it had been quiet for too long, so I was worried."

A large smile broke onto Felicity's face as she playfully punched his arm; "Spying on me, were you?"

"You wish!" he grinned back, pulling her into a hug. Placing a sloppy kiss on her forehead, he caught her eyes in concern. "You will be okay, right? I can easily cancel this-"

"No." Her curt reply cut him short. "Your mom has flown halfway across the world to see you and Thea. You can't just abandon the meal now."

Oliver sighed exasperatedly and stuck his bottom lip out.

"Fine. But I'm calling Sara and Roy to come check on you.' Felicity shook her head, watching him walk away, when would he realise she wasn't fragile and made of glass? Normally she would be angry at somebody treating her this way but, for some reason, she didn't mind Oliver doing it- it made her feel special and cared for and, although she would never admit it, she actually enjoyed it.

As Oliver arrived at the mansion, he barely noticed as one of the maids took his coat as he rushed into the dining room. After making a rushed apology for his lateness, his mother stood from her seat and walked over to greet him.

"Oliver," Moira enveloped him into a warm hug, "'Thank God you're okay. Thea told me what happened." Oliver looked across the room towards his sister who shot him a cold glare, breaking eye contact immediately. A pang filled his chest seeing his sister so cold and afraid of him- he had been protecting her and there was no choice to make.

Ushering Oliver to his seat, Moira began to make small talk, chatting away about Queen Consolidated's shares abroad and bragging about the new investor her and Walter had gotten from their business trip. Although Thea had been deliberately avoiding eye-contact and had brushed off any remark or question Oliver threw at her, at least she was being civil due to their mother's presence. Oliver's train of thought drifted from their conversation as he thought of how their mother would react if she ever found out what the siblings true argument was about. She would be horrified, he knew that, but would she be disappointed? Afraid that her son had killed a man in cold blood without even flinching?

A light voice broke his train of thought, but it hadn't come from the room. Oliver relaxed at the sound of Sara's voice over the comms; Felicity was no longer alone. He knew it was stupid but whenever Felicity wasn't around, it was like part of him was missing and he found that his mind always drifted back to her, wondering if she was okay. Ever since he watched her die in his arms, Oliver had deliberately left the comms on whenever they were apart, making up various excuses that he was expecting an important business call to anyone that queried his earpiece. Nodding occasionally to keep up the appearance that he was engaged in the conversation about Queen Consolidated, he listened for the sound of her voice. He could hear Roy and Sara joking with each other amongst the clanging of bo staff against each other. And then he heard her laugh, a small giggle, but Oliver recognised it immediately. A wide smile appeared on his face, a glint of light making his eyes shine happily.

Noticing Thea raising an eyebrow at his sudden change in posture, he quickly masked his features, clearing his throat. Focusing back on the conversation he smiled at his mother.

"I think that's a great idea, mom," he supplied to the conversation, knowing that the slight compliment was what his mother was looking for. His ears pricked at the mention of his name over the comms and his mother's voice became dull background noise once again.

"So where is Oliver?" Sara asked, glancing over at Felicity as she lay her bo staff on the training mats and made her way over to the desk.

Roy grabbed the water bottle from Sara's hands and joked, "I'm surprised he let you out of his sight for this long." Sara snatched the bottle back whilst Felicity's fingers came to a halt across the keyboard as she tried to hide the blush taking control of her cheeks.

"Family dinner," she smiled back, watching silently as Sara took a long gulp of water.

"Ahh the nightmares of family dinners right?" Sara smiled, lost in a memory.

Before Felicity's brain could stop her, she commented quietly, "Like I'd know.'

But Sara had picked up on Felicity's uncomfortable posture and reddened face.

"What did you say, Felicity?" Felicity just shook her head, turning back to her computers and mentally cursing herself. "Hey, whatever it is you can tell me, you know?" Sara stepped over and placed a hand on Felicity's shoulder, encouraging the blond to share.

"What's it like? Family dinners? I mean you all talk so much about little things, annoying siblings, interfering parents … family dinners. But what's it like?" The words tumbled out of her mouth before she could even stop herself. She saw Sara's mouth drop open slightly at the realisation of how Felicity had grown up and had noticed that, despite having his back turned, Roy's full attention was on her. She knew little about Roy but was sure his lack of sharing had to do with his absent family as he had never mentioned them once.

Before Felicity had spoken, Oliver had known that she was uncomfortable and, knowing her, probably blushing. He recognised the small hitch in her breath that marked the conversation, stating that she was about to talk about her past. Suddenly it was like the entire room faded into black and white. He no longer pretended to join in to the conversation. Felicity was vulnerable and her question made Oliver feel like he was sinking. The sound of Thea and Moira's voice became as insubstantial as the ticking of a clock.

"Sorry I didn't mean... It doesn't matter." Felicity started to ramble out an excuse but Sara quickly stepped in.

"Hey, it's okay. Family... well it's like… Team Arrow's a family?" Sara began to explain, completely baffled at where to start. "We might not be blood related or even have that much in common personality-wise, but we stick by each other and love each other no matter what. Someone once told me that family is precious and it is love, in spite of everything, that makes it precious. My dad's always been there for me, he's someone who looks after you, keeps you happy, comforts you when you are down and someone to tuck you into bed each night. I was always closer to my dad but mom was the same; she gave me advice, took me to movies and played with me when I was little. My sister Laurel, though, we had our ups and downs and were constantly bickering but, it was the little moments; secrets we shared, late nights curled up on the couch sharing pizza and gossiping. Those are the days I miss, but everything at some point comes to an end. Family is great when you are younger but, the older you get, the more you realise that family isn't just blood related, your family is those around you that put in the effort to make you happy, that are always there for you no matter what."

Oliver smiled sadly at Sara's speech, everything she had said was true, but it hurt him so much that Felicity didn't have any of that, no-one to look after her. She had been brought up alone.

Roy had been gradually getting closer during Sara's speech, watching the glint of happiness brighten Felicity's face at Sara's memories of her family then suddenly dull as reality set in and she realised all she had missed.

"Surely you must have had someone there?" Roy questioned, curious to know more about the girl's past.

"There was this one guard. He said his name was Tony, and he always felt sorry for me. I must have been about five when he joined, he was the one that gave me my name," she smiled sadly. A startled gasp rose from Roy at her words.

"Wait, what do you mean 'gave you your name'? What were you called before?"

Felicity shook her head at Roy's innocence. "Roy, I was a project to them, an experiment, not a child. Do you really think they bothered to give me a name? But Tony, he called me Felicity, said the name meant light and happiness, that no matter what happened I always had a smile on my face, that I brought a light to my father's dark ways."

Sara could see the ache in Felicity's eyes at the mention of the man so knew something horrific had happened. "What happened?"

Felicity sighed, uncomfortable with opening up the wound to her past, but the team had done so much for her so she needed to at least try and open up. "I was too nosy. I wanted to find out who my mother was so Tony asked around, found out her name was Meghan Smoak, although, after I got out, I researched and discovered that name was an alias anyway. So I decided to name myself Felicity Meghan Smoak and I was so pleased with myself. But then my father caught wind of what had happened and the next thing I know, Tony is gone and the guards are too scared to even make eye contact with me anymore. I refused to accept it at the time but I think you can guess what happened."

The weight of Felicity's story shook Oliver to his core. His fingers turned numb, causing his fork to clatter against the china plate attracting the worried looks of both Thea and his mother. Mumbling out a quick apology he reached for his glass but his shaking hand just drew more attention to himself. Grabbing a napkin he proceeded to fiddle with it, avoiding the glares of both women.

Sara and Roy had rushed to her side and, all at once, Felicity found herself enveloped in hugs and comfort. She smiled through her tear ridden lashes and spoke.

"You're right. You guys- you're my family. You are the ones comforting me and caring for me. You two are always squabbling with each other and it makes me smile, you have inside jokes, know what makes the other tick but whenever you need it you guys are there for each other. Roy, you and Dig are like my siblings."

"But I'm the fun one, right?' Roy butted in, making her laugh.

"Yeah you are, despite your bad humour, your overly sarcastic comments always make me smile. And Dig, he always gives the best advice. It's normally only a couple of words but he always says the right thing. Sara you helped me learn control, not only teaching me how but you sat with me for hours making sure I had got the relaxation right, you never judge me just treat me like everyone else." For once, Felicity's smile was genuine as she watched the others fight away their watery eyes.

"So what about Oliver?"

It was the question Oliver had been waiting for, this was the moment he would finally find out what Felicity felt for him. He straightened up, anticipating her answer and fearing the worst; what if Felicity only saw him as a friend? Was she still mad at him for breaking up with her before? Was she fed up of him pushing her away? Did the kiss earlier complicate things or destroy any obstacles in their way? Deep within his thoughts, he was oblivious to the confused looks shared between Moira and Thea, just entirely focused on her next few words.

"Oliver. I... I don't know. He's been a friend to me all this time, helped me out and always cared for me but I don't know if I see Oliver as my family or not." Felicity started, guilt fraying away at her for speaking about Oliver in front of the team.

Oliver felt his heart drop. Felicity only saw them as friends, this was nothing special to her, nothing like it was for him. He felt his breath go ragged, his smile drop from his face. Her revelation hit him hard, knocking the air out of him.

Felicity continued, the silence given by the others forced her to explain further. "It's just I have never trusted anyone at all really, but the second I saw Oliver I knew I could trust him. He makes me feel emotions I didn't know even existed and to be honest it terrifies me. I have never needed anyone in my life before but now I find myself dependant on him, my whole life revolves around Oliver, from what time I get up in the mornings even to when I eat or how I spend my day. I just… I don't know."

Sara spoke up, she knew Felicity was keeping something from them, but she had no idea what.

"Felicity, what is it that's stopping you being with Oliver?"

Wiping away stray tear falling from her eyes, Felicity said the words that she refused to even think to herself.

"What Oliver and I have is special but I just..." Taking a deep breath Felicity continued, "I have never felt this way about anyone before. I realised something when we had broken up; I love him. I love him so much, but I'm scared, petrified actually that he doesn't feel the same way, that I'm trusting him with all my soul when he doesn't love me back"

A single tear found its way down Oliver's cheek as Felicity's words reached him. Words could not even express how he felt about her, he thought he had been in love before but he had been so wrong. With Felicity everything was different he could just stare at her smile contently for hours on end, her voice so precious he felt lost without it. As the tear made its way onto his lips, the salty taste filled his mouth as it open slightly. Temporarily forgetting the now blur of his dining room he was lost in the moment, with her words playing on a loop in his head as he whispered.

"I love you too."


	10. Robin Hood

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always thank you for all your support I love hearing what you guys think of this story!! This chapter is a little lighter than the rest although I will apologise for the cliff hanger! Thanks to my beta Rebekah96 and enjoy :)

It was the high pitched shrill beeping noise that broke Felicity from her daze. A shiver of excitement and fear washed over her, as she realised what the noise signalled; Star Labs were calling. Taking a brief moment to compose herself, she quickly gestured for the others to crowd around the computers. This was it, this was the moment that could quite literally change her life. The next few seconds would decide her fate. Her fingers hovered momentarily over the mouse as a million unanswerable questions muddled her actions. It had been a week since Sara had sent a sample of her blood over for Star Labs to analyse, to find out how she had the mirakuru in her and what the effects were.

A comforting hand fell on top of hers, guiding her fingers down to accept the call; Oliver. The maze of questions cleared briefly and, in that one moment, all she saw was Oliver- it gave her the courage to face whatever horror or joy came next. The screen was lit up brightly by three faces, a smiling brunette introduced the others as Cisco and Barry and then herself as Caitlin. The startling gruffness of Oliver's voice abruptly ended the polite introductions, signalling the now weary-looking figures into explaining her results. But their grim faces gave away the news before she could even move her lips.

Caitlin nervously spoke, sympathy fuelling her words.

"I'm so sorry Felicity." The room fell silent for a second, no-one knowing what to say.

A loud bang erupted into the room, their eyes flicking to the source, watching in terror as the normally calm, collective hero flipped over a table in rage. Tears gathered in Felicity's eyes; this was too much, every strand of hope she had been clinging onto had frayed, revealing the raw truth at its core- she would always be a monster, a killer, she was everything her father wanted her to be, she had no control, no hope, nothing. The feeling of numbness spread in her legs, rendering them useless as they buckled under her weight. She sunk to the floor, barely noticing Oliver's arms cushioning her fall. His familiar scent engulfed her senses as she turning into his shoulder, away from the world. Her sobs echoed in the foundry, Felicity no longer cared who could hear, it didn't matter.

Moments passed, minutes tripping over themselves, time running away. Felicity couldn't really describe the feeling that passed over her, but it was like something had clicked. This was wrong, she thought. Why should she suffer any more because of her father? It was unfair, why did he have to define everything in her life? Her father only saw her as an experiment, a pawn in his game, but it was her life, why should she play his moves? No, the realisation struck Felicity hard; she couldn't escape his game so instead she had to win, she had to win to decide her own fate. But all this time she had been playing by his rules, following his instructions, but now it was about time that she made up her own rules. She would fight against it no matter what, Felicity didn't care about the consequences, they didn't matter and, whatever they were, she would gladly take them if it meant having a normal life, a life where she wasn't a prisoner to the foundry, where she wasn't living in fear of hurting anyone who came close; a life with Oliver. Felicity crawled out of Oliver's arms, wiping her sleeve across her cheeks, destroying any traces of her tear stained cheeks. When she spoke any hints of desperation were gone, a new determination taking their spot.

"What did the results say?"

Caitlin began to talk, passion lighting her eyes as she spoke of what she had run tests on. In any other circumstances, the baffled expressions on her teams faces, that Felicity had seen too many times when she babbled on about her computers, would have made her laugh, but not today. The harsh voice of The Arrow sounded through the room even without the modulator's help. Pausing after every word he breathed out through gritted teeth, his voice getting increasingly louder after each word.

"WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?" The team witnessed Caitlin physically gulp before Barry took over, braving Oliver.

"Umm.. It basically means that Felicity was born with the mirakuru in her, it's not like the other sample you sent us a year back, where the drug had latched onto the body cells. This... it's like instead of joining onto the cells where the bond can easily be broken with a simple cure, the mirakuru... it's become part of her cells. I'm guessing she must have been exposed to the drug prenatally, possibly via several injections. It's difficult to explain but, basically, the mirakuru has steadily spread throughout her, taking over every cell that has regenerated, thereby making it impossible to remove."

Cisco joined in, breaking the silence Barry's explanation had left the room in; "The drug has been sitting in your body, dormant for years. Your death decreased the activity in your body cells meaning that the mirakuru had the chance to dominate them without having to fight off any immunoglobulins, or antibodies as you may call them. So now technically you are more mirakuru than human which is pretty frickin' awesome by the way!"

No. Felicity shook her head violently, refusing to accept this, there has to be another way.

"What if..." she began to wonder aloud, allowing her mind to come up with a genius solution. She began following the motto she had taught herself when she was little- for every problem in life, there is always at least more than one solution, it's just about finding the right one. "What if we created a drug that countered the effects of the Mirakuru, or even if it was several drugs. It wouldn't be like a cure, it would just be different drugs powerful enough to counteract each and every enhanced power or affect the mirakuru has. It could be something that I would have to take regularly, it doesn't really matter, just something that would mean for at least a few hours each day I could go outside and live my life,'' Felicity babbled on, trying to figure out a way to make her theory real.

She faintly saw Cisco nodding from her peripheral vision as her fingers began to fly over the keyboards of the computer.

"I guess that's possible although it would have to be pretty strong and I doubt anything that strong would be safe but I'm up for trying."

Only Barry remained on the screen now, Cisco running off to brainstorm ideas whilst Caitlin scribbled frantically various numbers and letters that seemed gibberish to the team.

''I need you to write down and test every single affect the mirakuru has but you need to be very exact. Good luck, I really hope there's something we can do," he finished sincerely.

Felicity began to pace the room frantically, "First things first, my reflexes are heightened," she muttered to herself. Oliver watched in astonishment as she disappeared over to the training mats, only to return a second later. He barely had time to react as his bow was thrown at him from the over caffeinated girl babbling in front of him.

"Shoot me," she stated simply. Her words took him by surprise

"What? Absolutely not, Felicity," he replied immediately. The rest of the team shortly left the foundry, sensing another epic argument about to erupt.

"C'mon, I need to test my reflexes, Oliver. You heard what Barry said."

'"No, it's too dangerous."

"I need to be in a dangerous position to test my reflexes to the limit."

"No, you will get hurt!"

"Oliver I heal quickly, that's really not an issue."

"I said no."

"For God's sake, Oliver, man up!"

"Excuse me?"

"Stop treating me like I'm fragile!"

"I'm not, and that is not what this is about!"

"Well, then what is it?" The argument halted, the heated tension between them evening out.

"Felicity, I don't want to lose you again, I can't," he pleaded, his eyes turning desperate.

"You won't, Oliver, trust me."

"I'm sorry, but I just can't," he replied stormily, placing his bow down on the table and beginning to make his way towards the exit. Felicity ran after him, catching Oliver by his shoulder.

"Hey, what is this really about? Why won't you help me?" As soon as the words left her lips her mind put two and two together. "No, Oliver. You don't really think that when we figure out a way to prevent the mirakuru effecting me that I will leave, do you?"

It was the way the spark in his eyes dulled and the way his expression grew sombre that gave it away.

"Oliver, I would never leave you. I love you. I would never leave." Gasping, Felicity felt herself redden at her mind for letting those three words slip from her mouth. Quickly changing the subject, she brushed past the near awkward conversation; "So... ummm... will you help me?"

"You're going to hock me about this until I say yes, aren't you?" Oliver questioned, mentally cursing himself at letting the opportunity to tell Felicity how he felt slide by.

"I'm a hocker," Felicity giggled back.

Directing her back to the training mats, he notched an arrow, pulling back on the drawstring. Shaking the thoughts of something going wrong from his mind he let the arrow go. Felicity barely flinched as the arrow whizzed centimetres past her and sunk into the wall behind.

"You didn't even attempt to catch it? What were you thinking? Felicity, this is not a joke, you could have been seriously hurt!"

"Oliver, I knew you wouldn't be able to hit me, but if you want this to work then you need to aim for me. I can't catch something if it's nowhere near me!" Crossing her arms across her chest, Felicity matched Oliver's stare.

"Fine," he agreed sulkily, pretending to be frustrated at her, but Felicity caught a hint of a smile playing on the corner of his lips. Returning to their previous position, Oliver once again aimed an arrow at her. Closing his eyes, he felt the drawstring tighten,letting go of his senses until his vision was focused on her face.

"Wait!" Felicity's sudden outburst broke him from concentration, "We need a pulse monitor and I need to set up the computer cam so we can send this to Star Labs." Rushing forwards she returned to a perplexed Oliver a few seconds later. "Okay, I'm ready."

Oliver's eyes widened in astonishment as Felicity's hand reached out, easily catching the arrow before it hit her. Notching another arrow, he repeated his movements and, sure enough, she did the same thing. Quickly it became a game and Felicity found she could protect herself easily. He began shooting arrows faster, moving around the lair, ducking behind the cabinets and desks to throw her off, but, no matter what he did, every single time she caught it easily.

"Don't you dare say anything!" He half-growled, half-joked at a giggling Felicity.

"Your face, though! You look like I've grown a second head or something," she laughed, walking over towards him. Turning off the computer cam she spun around to face a still-bewildered Oliver.

Purposely walking past him, she brushed against him, stretching upwards on her tiptoes going in for a kiss. Teasing him, she quickly pulled away before their lips met and grabbed the bow out of his now slack hands.

"Hey! You did that on purpose!"

Felicity laughed, using the desk as a shield, "I'll give it back when you admit it!"

"No chance!" he scoffed, catching her eye, slowly etching closer and closer towards the desk. She retreated backwards suddenly as Oliver made a lunge for her across the desk. "Just admit that I'm better than you and I'll give it back," Felicity teased.

"Never!" he snarled, unable to hide the smile painting his lips.

"Fine, say good-bye to Sir Hiss!"

"Sir Hiss?"

"From Robin Hood! God, Oliver! He was the snake, remember?"

"What?"

"Sir Hiss was my favourite character- he's hilarious!"

"Are you comparing me to Robin Hood?" The confusion on Oliver's face was soon replaced with the beginning of a smile.

"Of course! I mean you both wear green and shoot a bow and arrow and, seriously, John is just a creepy coincidence. Please don't tell him I called him creepy, though I didn't mean it like that. Although I think Roy would be Will Scarlet because, hello! Have you seen him wearing anything other than red?"

Shaking his head Oliver crept forward slowly, using Felicity's distraction to his advantage.

"Who would be Maid Marion then?"

"Me, obviously, I want my knight in shining armour to rescue me or, rather, my hooded vigilante," she gasped, suddenly noticing how close Oliver had got.

"My?" He asked innocently, knowing it would make Felicity blush instantly.

"Well, I didn't mean it like I own you or anything..." Oliver broke off her ramble by leaping forward and snatching the bow out of her hands.

"Hey! Now you did that on purpose!" She narrowed her eyes at him jokingly, making a grab back for the bow which Oliver now held above his head. "Don't you dare use my smallness to your advantage, Oliver Jonas Queen!"

Just as Felicity reached upwards onto her tiptoes to reach for the bow, Oliver crashed his lips into hers, neither noticing the clatter of the bow on the ground. Pulling away gently, he held Felicity in his arms, resting his forehead against hers.

"Can we talk about that little slip up earlier? I know you think I didn't notice it but I did." The tension in the room suddenly shifted, creating a much more serious mood. Knowing Felicity would attempt to pull away, he tightened his arms around her. "No, don't apologise Felicity."

He placed another chaste kiss onto her lips and braved himself for the next words he was about to say.

"Felicity, there's something I need to tell you. I know you never cared about my playboy persona or let that affect anything but, even when I was with any of my past girlfriends, I was wrong. I remember telling Laurel that I loved her for the first time, but I was wrong. When I think back at the time I thought saying those three words was just something that came in a relationship, something that whoever I was with at the time wanted to hear. But it never occurred to me what those words might mean. And now with you, I have realised a lot about myself in the past few weeks but one thing I know for sure; I never really knew what love was until I met you Felicity. So, I love you too. Felicity I love you."

Tears began to spill over her cheeks at Oliver's words, their teasing long forgotten about.

"I love you too," she whispered, making their eyes meet blue against blue once again. Cupping his cheeks she took a moment to drink in his genuine smile, savouring the moment as a strong heat started to pool in her stomach. Cascading her lips into his, Felicity deepened the kiss immediately, the sudden need to be closer to Oliver, taking over. She could feel his hand exploring her, each touch leaving a fiery burn mark across her skin. Needing to be closer, she trailed her hands underneath his shirt, the ripple of his muscles tightening at her contact causing the pit of heat to spread. Desperation for more fuelled their kiss, their love for one another shining through. Felicity let out a small whimper as Oliver's trailing hand ran along the edge of her skirt, teasingly. The breath hitched in her throat as Oliver's hand travelled upwards leaving a tingling fire in its path. Letting go, she grabbed onto his shirt, pulling it upwards and over his head. Placing her palm over the scar tissue remains underneath his heart, she began pressing her lips to each and every mark on his skin, kissing away every painful memory, every moment he had faced the brink of death with fear of not returning. A muffled yelp escaped her lips as Oliver abruptly lifted her off the ground, backing her into the foundry wall. She wrapped her legs around his waist as they continued to kiss, oblivious to everything accept each other. Slowly unbuttoning her blouse, he asked her the silent question with pleading eyes. The second she nodded, he ripped the blouse away from her, his hands now exploring every inch of her. Guiding Felicity towards the cot in the corner of the foundrym Oliver almost dropped her at the sensation of Felicity rolling her hips into his. As he gently dropped her onto the bed he sunk on top of her, their bodies wielding into one. Placing a trail of kissing along her shoulderfoundry, he sucked on her neck, claiming it as his own before following upwards to claim her mouth once again. This was the moment they had been waiting for, the chance to show their love for one another. Oliver let the smile he was holding back form against Felicity's lips, he had never let himself go before, never let himself be this vulnerable with anyone before, not even himself but at that moment his feelings were impossible to hide. As they made love, Oliver knew that, that moment right then would change everything. It was that moment that something snapped inside of him, every fear his mind had dreamt up, every possible danger them being together could cause was gone. He no longer feared the commitment being with Felicity brought, didn't fear the danger it could put her in because he finally understood that they were in this together. As he lay there, his arms wrapped around Felicity's perfect body, he knew that an excitement replaced the fear. He was excited and happy and couldn't wait to spend the rest of his life with Felicity if she would let him.

…

"What are you thinking about? You've got your worry face on." Oliver traced the crinkles on her forehead, evening them out. This would forever remain a perfect moment in his mind, both of them sprawled out over the foundry bed, their bodies entwined.

Squirming in his arms so that she was fully facing him, Felicity sighed.

"Those men at the mansion. I've just got a bad feeling, something wasn't quite right about them."

"You mean other than the fact that they were trying to kill us right?" Oliver joked back, trying to lighten the now-serious mood.

"It's just, my father is very powerful and he wouldn't waste his men breaking into the mansion like that, especially if he knew there was a chance I wasn't there," she expressed, as Oliver pulled her closer to his side for comfort.

"Maybe he hired them as mercenaries or he's not how you remembered him. There's a million possibilities Felicity, but it doesn't matter, they're gone now."

"Yeah, I suppose," she sighed once again, smiling at the perfectness of the situation, "What about you? I know your thinking face a mile off and, contrary to popular belief, that's never good. So what's got you so worked up?"

"I was wondering about what you said earlier and it got me thinking, when did you watch Robin Hood?"

"Hey!" Felicity jokingly slapped his arm. "Be serious!"

"Oh, I'm always serious with you," he joked back, pulling the blonde on top of his body and placing a playful kiss to her lips.

"If I tell you my Robin Hood story, will you tell me then?" She battered her lashes at him teasingly.

Smiling against the kiss he replied; "Oh no! Not another story!"

Faking annoyance she pulled away, "Hey, you love my stories Queen!"

"Yeah, you're right I do. I love them." He teased her, knocking her arms placed either side of him causing her to lose her balance and her body to fall back on top of his. Felicity responded by punching his arm at the clear teasing.

After placing another quick kiss to his lips she spoke.

"Remember when I told you about the times I tried to run away when I was younger?" Smiling at his nod, she continued, "One of my first few escapes, I remember just running blind, I think I was about six at the time, and somehow I ended up outside a cinema. I admit it probably wasn't one of my brightest moments, but being a six year old instead of being sensible and trying to find the nearest police station, I snuck in an abandoned side entrance of the cinema and managed to get into one of the screenings. I was so transfixed at the time. I had never seen a film, or even TV beforel so I barely noticed his men coming up behind me. I had managed to watch the majority of the film which before, as you can guess, was Robin Hood. But I still don't know now whether it was the best thing to happen to me or the biggest mistake I could have made. When I was taken back, the memories kept looping in my head for months after, there were so many tiny things that I never even considered. Seeing other children with their parents, laughing and chatting, even just a simple hug or touch got to me. Before, I had never known that things could be so different and, from that moment on, I hated how my life had turned out, I wanted to be like everyone else. But it was the film that struck me the most, I was only a kid so I didn't understand it was all made up but I held onto the hope that someone would rescue me for years, like Robin rescued all those people from Prince John. If I'm honest it was all I had to hold onto, as kid I managed to convince myself that the hero Robin Hood would be the one to save me. Even after all those years of no-one coming, I still believed it. When I escaped, though, I knew that I was so stupid for believing that a hero would want to save me. But then the weirdest thing happened, some green hooded vigilante holding a bow and arrow came and rescued me from that building. I thought I had officially lost it and dreamt the whole thing up but then he saved me again from those men in the glades and I just could not believe my eyes. You saved me, you were my hero and, even now, a small part of me still believes none of this is real."

Glancing towards his face to see the reaction of emotions in his eyes, Felicity certainly did not expect to see tears brimming the edges.

"I love you so much, you know that right?" Oliver tucked a stray lock of golden hair behind her ear, the look of adoration on his face unable to stay hidden.

"I know," Felicity gestured towards him, a huge grin spread across her face at seeing this side of Oliver for the first time, "It's your turn now."

"It's Thea. I'm worried about her. Ever since the night at the mansion when she saw me kill the attacker, she's been different. I keep trying to talk to her about it, but every time she just brushes me off. I tried blocking her from leaving once and I caught a glint of fear flash in her eyes before she pushed me out the way."

"What about your mom? Can't she talk to her?" Felicity squeezed his arm, trying to bring some comfort to him.

"Ahh my mother. She's not exactly the type for a heart to heart and to be honest I think that's good, I don't know what I would do if Thea told her what really happened. I don't think she would be too pleased finding out her son is a killer. Walter is still in Japan and Thea would be mad if I talked to Roy about it, so I don't know what to do."

"One, don't you ever call yourself a killer again and two, why don't I just talk to her, I mean she's my best friend and I know what happened."

"No way! It's far too dangerous, you have been confined to the foundry for a reason. I don't want your father to find you, it's too risky and someone will see you."

"Oliver please, I can stick a jumper over my head and put the hood up. Dig can drive me right to the front door and away again, I'll be with someone constantly. Please let me do this, after all, this all happened because of me and I really miss having Thea around." She pleaded with him, putting on her best puppy dog eyes.

"That's not fair, you know I can never say no to you. But I'm not happy with this and you are to stay by Dig at all times ok?"

"Yes! Thank you!" Felicity pressed a lazy kiss to his lips before jumping up from the cot and grabbing her clothes. "This is going to be great!"

…

As the car pulled up at the Queen mansion, Felicity turned suddenly at Dig's cursing. "There's been an alert for one of your traces at the foundry, I need to go. Okay, I would try and persuade you to come back with me but, judging by the expression on your face, that's not going to work. So, if I give you my phone will you text Oliver whenever you want me to pick you up?"

Felicity nodded enthusiastically, "I promise,"

"The second you are done?" Felicity agreed, meeting Dig's concerned gaze.

"Okay, I have placed extra guards around the house and told them to be extra alert tonight so if anything goes wrong just make one sound and they will come running, okay?"

"Thanks Dig, I owe you," Leaning forward, Felicity placed a brief kiss on the side of his cheek before jumping out of the car and heading towards the mansion. Pausing to wave good-bye to Dig, she desperately tried to calm her nerves before being ushered in by a welcoming Raisa. Pausing briefly outside Thea's room, she began to knock gently.

"'Licity?" Thea's brown hair bobbed as she pulled back the door. Before Felicity could even open her mouth, small arms enveloped her. "I'm so glad you are okay," the brunette smiled into her shoulder.

Pulling away, Felicity followed Thea back into her room, taking in the familiar feminine colours painted across the walls. "I'm guessing Ollie sent you."

"To be fair, I offered," Felicity smiled back, "I missed you."

"Same here, blondie," Felicity laughed, noticing the similarity between her and Roy immediately.

"So are you going to tell what it is that's got you all mopey?" Felicity gently nudged Thea's shoulder as they sunk into the giant purple couch.

"I'm sure he has told you what happened," noting Felicity's quick nod she continued, 'I saw it in his eyes. Oliver just killed the man, it was like he had no remorse, and he didn't even flinch. And it scared me so much, he's a killer, how is my own brother a killer, I could tell he has done it before, it just came so naturally like it was second nature to him.' A couple of tears ran down her face as she brought her knees up to her chest and hugged them in comfort.

'Hey, it's ok' Felicity immediately reacted, pushing Thea's knees downward and wrapping her in a hug. 'If I can tell you one thing it's that Oliver is not a killer, he's a survivor. I know he hasn't told you much about the Island but just think about it for a second. What do you think he ate there?'

The question took Thea by surprise, 'umm meat, or berries I guess, I don't know?'

'Meat?' Felicity prompted for more.

'Yeah, some of the animals on the island and fish maybe.' Confused at what Felicity was getting at Thea raised an eyebrow at her.

'And what did he have to do to eat them?' Felicity asked gently.

'Huh, He killed them.' Thea stated before gasping, realising Felicity's point.

'He told me that to survive he had to kill at least twice a day. Oliver told me he hated it at first, he couldn't help apologising at every animal he took its life from, until one day it became second nature and he didn't even think about it anymore. But does that make him a killer? No. It makes him a survivor. Oliver said that when he first came back, you saw his scars.' Thea nodded briefly, tears once again filling her eyes at the thought of her brother's pain. 'I know you probably have loads of horrific theories about how he got them but if you think about it, every one of those theories involves someone else on that island with him, doesn't it? And do you really think they would have just let him go?' Thea looked up, realising what Felicity was implying. 'I told you before, he's a survivor, and Oliver did what he had to do. To survive.'

'I never thought of it like that' Thea spoke, her moth slightly agape at the realisation, although she had imagined what her brother had been through on the island, she had never truly thought about what it actually meant.

'So when Oliver saw someone with a knife against his little sister's throat, do you really think he thought twice about what he did? No, he just reacted, someone he loved was in danger and he did what he had to do to protect them; he's a survivor not a killer.' Felicity expected Thea to cry or to shout or to tell her to leave but what she didn't expect was her to throw her arms around her, thanking her.

Pulling back, Thea wiped away the stray tears and mouthed yet another thank you at Felicity. 'Right, enough crying now. We are going to have fun now and forget about it all ok?'

Felicity laughed at Thea's sudden change in mood, 'Disney sleepover and popcorn?'

'I think I'm going to need something much stronger with everything that is going on' Thea laughed catching Felicity's eye.

'What do you mean?' Felicity asked innocently.

'Let's just say I hope you're not an angry drunk!'

'I have never been drunk before actually.' Felicity admitted.

'WHAT?!' The sudden loudness of Thea's voice made Felicity jump but she just simply shrugged. 'Right that settles it. We are going to get you wasted. Although I wouldn't tell Ollie if I were you!'

Felicity watched in amazement as Thea left the room only to return a minute later juggling several wine bottles including one very strong looking bottle of vodka. Raising her eyebrows and smiling at Thea's determination to carry every bottle, Felicity extracted a few from the girl before she dropped them all.

…

It was after about an hour when Felicity looked around the room, still laughing hysterically at Thea's imitation of Oliver, that she realised just how much they had drunk. Thea stood up, gripping onto the sofa for support, 'Wow ok, definitely past my limit, the room is spinning.' Jumping up in concern Felicity started to guide her queasy looking friend to the bathroom but Thea just shrugged her off, 'Hey, I am well known for holding my liquor thank you very much. Hey why aren't you drunk?'

Felicity caught her again as she violently swayed to the side. 'I don't know, I don't feel any different. Actually I feel exactly the same.'

'What? How's that possible? I need you to be drunk with me Lis!' Thea started muttering under her breath again but Felicity couldn't make out her slurred words. Still unsure of what Thea was trying to say, she steadied her friend as she staggered towards the door determinedly. A thought crossed Felicity's mind, as she tried to figure out why she wasn't affected by the alcohol; maybe it had something to do with the mirakuru? Shaking her head from her thoughts, her attention was dragged to Thea who was looking around the room calling out, 'Oliver where are you?'

Catching Thea's arm, Felicity spoke to her softly, trying to understand what her friend wanted. 'Hey Thea, what are you doing? Why are you looking for Oliver?'

'I want to see Ollie. I need to tell him I'm sowry. Sowrry. Sorry' Felicity just shook her head, smiling as Thea burst out laughing.

'Fine, but he's at the club. I'll call Dig now.' Excitement rose through her, although Thea may be drunk, she wanted to make up with Oliver. Felicity had seen many people drunk before, usually men staggering out of bars late at night but she had never had to care for one before, so actually a trip to see Oliver couldn't hurt. 'Huh that's strange', she muttered under her breath; the phone Dig gave her kept coming up with an error message saying phone out of service. Sighing in frustration, she turned around and retrieve Thea's phone from the floor but strangely the same message appeared. That can't be a coincidence, the thought immediately sent an adrenaline surge through Felicity's body; something was wrong. Noticing Thea had disappeared, she ran out into the hallway to catch up with her.

'Its fine Lissy we can just get my driver to take us' Thea beamed, like she had just solved every problem in the world.

'Fine' Felicity agreed, she didn't know what was going on but she knew that they needed to get to Oliver as quickly as possible. Pulling up her hood so that her face was in the shadows, she followed Thea out into the driveway and climbed into the car behind her. Leaning backwards against the soft luxury of the leather, Felicity felt herself relax. That was her first mistake. She jumped at the abrupt noise of the doors locking shut. Raising her eyebrows in question at the driver, he quickly explained that it was for security reasons. Nodding in understanding, was Felicity's second mistake. Noticing Thea sprawled out across the seat next to her in a deep slumber should have sent Felicity on high panic mode, but it didn't. That was her third mistake. Glancing out of the window, she wondered how long it would take to get to the club, surely they should be there by now? Barely glancing from the two phones in her hand that still proved to be useless, she asked the driver why it was taking so long.

'It's just traffic Miss Smoak, nothing to worry about.' He replied darkly. Felicity glanced upwards, a small shot of panic startling her, at the realisation that the driver knew who she was. Meeting his stony eyes in the rear mirror she gasped, immediately recognising the cold, empty look she had seen one to many times. Undoing her seat belt, Felicity struggled with the locked doors, throwing all of her force into her kicks at the glass. The car dragged to a halt and suddenly icy hands were upon her. Struggling against his grip, she threw every defence move she had learnt and every attack that Dig had taught her, but in the confined space they weren't doing much good. A sick smile filled her vision as a small prick cut into her neck followed by the sensation of a cool liquid flowing through her. Her body turned limp, her arms becoming a dead weight and any remaining energy in her was drained until she could barely support her own head. As the world turned black, her last thought drifted back to Oliver.


	11. Hope

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, just two more chapters until I have caught up with FF then I will be posting once a week. Thank you for all the kudos and comments, I love to hear what you guys think of a chapter. Also thanks to my beta Rebekah96 who did an amazing job this chapter, enjoy and please let me know what you thought :)

_Previously on I'll Fight With You:_

_Felicity pulled up her hood so that her face was in the shadows, she followed Thea out into the driveway and climbed into the car behind her. Leaning backwards against the soft luxury of the leather, she felt herself relax. That was her first mistake. She jumped at the abrupt noise of the doors locking shut. Raising her eyebrows in question at the driver, he quickly explained that it was for security reasons. Nodding in understanding, was Felicity's second mistake. Noticing Thea sprawled out across the seat next to her in a deep slumber should have sent Felicity on high panic mode, but it didn't. That was her third mistake. Glancing out of the window, she wondered how long it would take to get to the club, surely they should be there by now? Barely glancing from the two phones in her hand that still proved to be useless, she asked the driver why it was taking so long._

_'It's just traffic Miss Smoak, nothing to worry about.' He replied darkly. Felicity glanced upwards, a small shot of panic startling her, at the realisation that the driver knew who she was. Meeting his stony eyes in the rear mirror she gasped, immediately recognising the cold, empty look she had seen one to many times. Undoing her seat belt, Felicity struggled with the locked doors, throwing all of her force into her kicks at the glass. The car dragged to a halt and suddenly icy hands were upon her. Struggling against his grip, she threw every defence move she had learnt and every attack that Dig had taught her, but in the confined space they weren't doing much good. A sick smile filled her vision as a small prick cut into her neck followed by the sensation of a cool liquid flowing through her. Her body turned limp, her arms becoming a dead weight and any remaining energy in her was drained until she could barely support her own head. As the world turned black, her last thought drifted back to Oliver._

_..._

A piercing beam of light tore Felicity from the blissful darkness. Flickering open her eyes groggily, she could barely suppress a loud groan, her entire body emitting a dull ache. As her blurred vision began to focus slightly, she took in the room, desperately scanning for Thea. Noticing a crumpled body dumped in the corner, Felicity let out a sharp sigh of relief. Trying to get a better glance of the room, she twisted her body round, immediately regretting it when her side bit back in a fiery fury. Wincing through the pain, she could feel the harsh metal sides of the handcuffs slicing her skin mixed with the tearing pain in her over stretched arm muscles tied behind her back. Drawing in a sharp intake of air, she wriggled her wrists, trying to escape the cuffs, while ignoring her arms as they screamed in protest.

After several failed attempts, Felicity's confusion grew, the hope of escaping crushed; she should be able to break her ties in a matter of seconds but for some reason she could barely lift a finger without needing to take a rest. Finally managing to slip one wrist out of the cuffs, she tugged at the other, her weak movements making time run in slow motion. Dragging her sluggish body onto shaky legs, she moved towards Thea's still sleeping form. Her whole body shook violently as she shivered furiously. Feeling the energy drain from her legs, she crumpled to the floor, unable to move. She watched, in silent protest, as a figure swamped in black strode confidently into the room. A slow panic settled in her stomach as she screamed helplessly at the man walking towards Thea. She watched as the man kicked Thea's limp body further into the corner and aimed his sick smile towards Felicity.

…

It had been a fairly simple night in the foundry but Oliver could not keep still. Diggle and Roy's eyes met more than once in concern at the pacing vigilante.

"Hey if you're that worried about her, maybe you should just go home," Dig offered. The glare Diggle received caused him to blink twice; sure, he had seen Oliver riled up before, but he was never this bad.

"Felicity said she wanted me to trust her and I do," as the words left Oliver's mouth, his pacing increased, a continuous movement, from the bottom of the steps to the training mats, the monotonous repetition seeming to sooth him.

"I don't care, Oliver, your pacing is driving us mad, so, please, for all our sakes just go!" Dig shook his head, hiding a threatening smirk at the behaviour of his partner.

Sighing, Oliver gruffly pulled out his phone from his trousers' pocket and jabbed at the screen with his finger. The painfully slow dialling tone enveloped the foundry in silence. After the fifth ring, the colour drained from his cheeks; something was wrong. Attempting to calm the man looking like he would explode in a fit of rage any second, Dig placed a supportive hand on his shoulder.

"She might have just left the phone on the side, it's nothing to worry about. Why don't you try Thea?"

Trying to hide his visibly shaking fingers as his mind filled with dread, Oliver let out an exasperated breath as the ringing halted, signalling Thea had answered. But the cheery, young voice he expected to answer was gone. Instead the recognisable voice of the house's maid; Raisa, answered.

"Where's Felicity?" The words left his lips as the final ring still hung in the air.

"Mister Oliver?" The normally reassuring voice now sent icy shivers through him, "I'm sorry, Mister Oliver, I saw Miss Felicity and Miss Thea leave earlier, at least a few hours ago."

Fear clawed at his insides, they were supposed to stay in the mansion; she was supposed to be safe. Slamming down the device mid-call, he raced to Felicity's monitors typing in the memorised commands Felicity had taught him in case something like this were to ever happen.

"She's at the mansion," he stated simply before storming into the club upstairs, closely followed by the team. The speed limits he was breaking were the least of his worries as he sharply swerved in and out of the traffic. The roar of his motorcycle growled into the icy wind that tore at his bare arms, temporarily numbing any sense of fear.

Passing through the mansion gates, he jumped off the bike seconds before he pulled to an abrupt stop. Oliver was already pounding on the thick wooden door just as engine noises died down from his bike. In the spilt second the handle turned, he threw his body into the hallway, startling an unaware maid, and bolted up the stairs. Reaching Thea's room, he kicked the door open with such force, it buckled under his weight. His eyes frantically scanned the room, fear trampling his hope when he spotted the two phones strewn across the light oak flooring. Pocketing the pair, he made his way towards the sound of the team finally arriving at the mansion. As Oliver reunited with the rest of the team at the bottom of the stairwell, he noticed a couple of guards had gathered around, alerted by the commotion.

"Where are they?" Oliver growled at the nearest bodyguard, the arrow persona blinding its way through his voice. The tall, muscular man dressed in a smart plan black suit similar to Dig's stepped forward. His normally invincible military posture slightly faltered at Oliver's snarl.

"Sir, both Miss Queen and Miss Smoak left about an hour ago. They asked to be driven to Verdant. Is there a breach of security we should be worried about?"

Ignoring his question, Oliver glared at the man.

"Who drove them?"

"Mr Francis, Sir." The guard regained his posture, despite his client's scowl burning into his forehead.

It was Diggle who stepped between the men, acting as a buffer, confusion painting his expression, "I don't remember a Mr Francis. Did you check his ID and number?"

"Standard procedure, Sir, of course. It was his first day here," The man responded, averting his gaze downwards as if trying to escape the uncomfortable situation.

"I personally check and hand pick every guard on these premises and there have been no new body guards for at least the last few months."

The second Dig spoke, the dreaded realisation set in on Oliver. It was like something clicked inside of him; one second he was a billionaire CEO and the next a blood-thirsty, rage-driven animal. Slamming the security guard against the wall, he held him upwards in a choke. His face contorted in a thousand ways, fury driving him as he roared at the man.

"YOU DID THIS! YOU ARE THE REASON SHE'S GONE!" Reacting immediately, Dig clutched at his partner's arm, desperately trying to pull him away. Sara was on her toes before the room could blink but carefully put her reaction down to shock at the outburst; there were people here that didn't know her skills. Moira appeared alongside a brown-haired business man at the sudden noise, a look of horror passing over herself.

"Oliver! Calm down, we will find her, we will find them, but you have to calm down," Dig whispered threateningly into Oliver's ear and, after a few moments, his death grip loosened and the guard dropped to the floor, clutching at his throat, struggling for breath.

Composing her frightened self, Moira held her head high.

"OLIVER! What is the matter with you? I am in the middle of a meeting. Why are you behaving like an animal?!"

With eyes of fire, Oliver pointed at the man in rage, spitting out each word with such a force each blow seemed to cripple the man.

"HIM. HE CAUSED ALL OF THIS. HE AUTHORISED THE DRIVER AND NOW SHE'S GONE."

The reality hit Oliver once again, a tsunami of icy fear leaving him breathless, and for the first time since the island, Oliver broke down. His body crumbled to the floor, his limbs turning numb as stray tears prickled his eyes.

Before he could stop himself, the words left his lips in a murmur, "she's gone, Mom. He took her and Thea. The one person I let in, the only light I could see. I loved her and now she's gone." His blurred vision swam as horrific thoughts ripped away inside his mind. He almost didn't notice, but suddenly two arms engulfed him. Turning his tear-stricken face into the familiar comforting warmth, he sobbed into her chest, oblivious to the terrified expressions crossing his teams faces at their leader's break down.

"Mom..." he whispered into her shoulder, the missing affection, from when he was a small boy, now returned.

Minutes passed by, but slowly the continuous circular rubbing on his palms began to comfort him and the whispered words of reassurance slowly regained his strength. It was the gentle tapping on his shoulder that finally awoke Oliver from his daze. Looking upwards he saw the mansion swarmed with men in uniform, paralleling a few days before, except now this was officially a missing persons case and, not just any missing person, but this included one of the city's most well known billionaires; Thea Queen.

As Oliver straightened himself out, the distraught look of fear and panic he saw shining through his mother's eyes matched his own. Taking a moment to compose himself, Oliver glanced around his house, searching for the team. His eyes caught Dig's immediately, he stood the other end of the hallway talking in hushed whispers to Detective Lance but Sara and Roy were nowhere to be seen.

…

"Felicity Smoak," the man snarled at her, the crazed glint never leaving his eyes. Pulling herself forward, Felicity's body scraped across the stoned floor but she couldn't trust herself to stand without keening over. The muscles in her arms screamed at her, their tortured voices fighting to be heard against the blood rushing in her ears. Gripping with one shaking hand onto an uneven slate on the ground, she pulled her body forward, burning every remaining strand of strength left in her.

Through the corner of her eye, Felicity could make out several darkened figures entering the room. She expected them to stop her, to tie her back up again or even to put her down, but nothing happened. The figures just spread across the room, acting as if she was not there. For the first time, Felicity noticed medical equipment down the side, sending a petrified shiver down her spine. The figures went about mixing different liquids together, chatting amongst themselves as if this was a daily occurrence for them. She could see the row of syringes, as if they were daring her to take a step towards their poisoned point. The first figure that had entered stood in the shadows, his face half covered in pure darkness, giving him the perfect identity concealer. The sound of his feigned laugh echoed off the solid walls, his amused smile growing stronger; Felicity's pain the central cause of his glee. Finally reaching Thea's limp body, a cold fear griped her; Thea was awake. This entire time, Thea had been awake. A small tear escaped her terrified eyes at the same time as a frightened whimper left her lips. A million possibility's tore at each other, each thought trying to be heard above the rest, all trying to answer one simple question; why hadn't Thea moved? Sure, Felicity could understand being frozen in fear or faking dead to survive but Thea hadn't even lifted a finger. Her terrified expression remained the same, almost as if it was frozen in place. Felicity lifted her numbed fingers towards the back of her friend's head, dread ripping away at the wet feeling of blood matting her hair. Her rosy cheeks replaced with a cold paleness and her once energetic ringlets a mass of lifeless, worn out reddened curls. This wasn't right. A surge of hope spread throughout Felicity; the bump on her head was too small to cause any real damage, so that couldn't be the reason for her paralysis. So why hadn't Thea moved?

…

Frustration rose in the pit of Oliver's stomach; he should be out looking for Felicity, not wasting time pacing the mansion. Oliver had seen Lance phone the Arrow and he was now relaying information to him, desperate to find any leads on Felicity. Remembering that he left the Arrow phone in the lair, Oliver smiled, noticing for the first time Sara and Roy's disappearance from the scene.

Dig seemed to be somehow keeping his cool whilst yelling at the mansion's security co-ordinator, whilst his mother fretting about the pace, making several calls, although from what Oliver could tell, they seemed to be more in the PR department than actually useful calls to her many contacts. He shouldn't be here, the swarming officers around the mansion, the multiple stressed conversations over lapping one another and the mass of bodies, offering their condolences were too close for comfort.

Oliver knew that he had to stay in the mansion, the news of the kidnapping had spread quicker than wildfire and had been devoured by starving paparazzi. From the several calls to the mansion, Oliver had heard Thea being abducted along with a mysterious blonde had been declared the story of the year. Everywhere he turned, across every channel over television, radio and any type of media, it was the headline.

He could feel the air begin to thin, as he gasped for a breath, the edges of his vision blurry, and the panic tearing its way into his body. Oliver had experienced enough panic attacks since the Island to know that being in this room wasn't helping, and it certainly would help find Felicity any quicker.

No longer caring about the Queen's public image, Oliver stormed out of the mansion, ignoring his mother's and Detective Lance's protests. He was temporarily blinded by the sudden white flashes of light piercing his vision and the million questions thrown at him from every angle, fighting to be heard over the rest. It was the small placement of Dig's hand on his shoulder, which shook him from his stunned state. Leading his friend over to the car, Dig ushered Oliver in, away from the crowding cameras and set off towards the foundry without another question. The hope of finding them remained solely in their hands.

…

Looking up at the men in horror, Felicity gently shook Thea's lifeless shoulder.

"Oh, I doubt she will be able to move any time soon. Neither should you actually, we will have to see about that," the man growled at her, taking a threatening step closer.

Knowing her chance of escape was virtually impossible without Thea being able to move herself, rage once again rippled through her. What was wrong with herself? She was supposed to have the Mirakuru in her, so why was her body a dead weight? What the hell had they injected her and Thea with? The threatening man continued to step closer to the pair, and hopes of fighting back were quickly dismissed when Felicity found herself unable to even lift her own head. Wrapping her arms around Thea protectively, Felicity closed her eyes and waited for the inevitable. She shivered in disgust as the man ran his hands across her neck, sweeping her matted locks of hair to one side. Then the sharp prick of a needle in the back of her neck drained the remaining energy from her now numb body as she lost the battle to darkness.

…

When Oliver arrived at the foundry, Roy and Sara quickly moved away from Felicity's computers, predicting his temper.

"What have you found?" he blurted out, without glancing from the busy screens. Sara quickly glanced over at Roy, who had instinctively taken a step backwards and realised he was leaving her to brave Oliver.

"Right, so we checked all the mansion security footage and any surrounding cameras on the premise but it seems that whoever took them was a cameras were disabled an hour before the suspected time of their kidnapping."

"Dammit!" The aggression stood out in his voice as Oliver slammed his fists violently on the desk, the vibrations almost knocking the computer screens from their setting.

"Hey, Oliver, calm down. We have a lead, okay?" Roy butted in, daring to engage with the beast. Noticing his demeanour change, Sara took advantage of the now calmed Oliver and quickly explained what they had found.

"We traced the car Mr Francis used to a back alley in the glades, although the car was abandoned we managed to swipe any prints and have sent it to the lab for testing but it's not looking good. So we came up with the idea-"

"I came up with it," Roy interrupted proudly, only to back away quickly at Oliver's burning glare.

"Fine, Roy came up with the theory that whoever disabled the cameras might have done it manually. We asked around and several of the security guards on patrol saw an un-plated black RV come through the mansion gates just before the guard switch over which would have been at one o'clock. From their different descriptions of the van, we concluded that it was a company van and have narrowed it down to six companies located here in Starling City. The driver in the van had claimed to be working for an electricity company, his ID checked out so security let him through. Which means however took them are good."

Oliver nodded, impressed with his team. They had a lead, and any case with a lead was solvable. He would find his girls again, he would always come for her.

"Have you hacked into surrounding traffic cameras?"

Roy nodded, "Yeah, the computer's scanning through them now in a five mile radius for any black vans, between eleven and two, but it's taking its time," Roy finished miserably.

"Good." The single-word reply from Oliver was all the team needed to pull them from their worried thoughts.

…

When Felicity awoke again, the hazy numbness blurred her vision. She groggily flicked her eyes open and glanced around the room. She tried to turn her head towards the last place she had seen Thea's body but for some reason her body refused. A panic settled in the pit of her stomach as she attempted to lift her tied wrists from their new aching position but found she couldn't move them either.

A small tear found its way dribbling down her cheek, falling to its death as the simple sound of water hitting concrete echoed off the walls. She was paralysed. It explained why she had gone down so easily in the car, unable to protect Thea and it explained why she could barely even support her own head. Sure, the Mirakuru was fighting whatever venom they had injected her with off, otherwise she would be as lifeless as Thea.

Thea. The name sent her senses on high alert; they must have injected her with the paralysis as well, it would explain why she hadn't even twitched when Felicity had moved to her side. Glancing around the room once more, Felicity began to study the newly familiar walls she had spent hours doing monotonously the first time she had woken up. Deciding that nothing was working, frustration grew inside of her, bubbling over the edges of her control.

What would Oliver do? The thought brought a small sense of comfort to her. Her mind drifted to a memory of one of her first training sessions with Oliver, a week after joining the team. _'Think outside the box, if it's not working then try another way,_ _never make the mistake of giving up, that's when your opponent will strike; in that one moment of weakness when you drop your guard'. They had been sparring in the foundry when Felicity had flopped to the floor, exhausted._

_"It's not working! I give up!" she had complained, slumping her exhausted body to the ground. Oliver had simply replied with that quote, a hidden smirk plastering his face. The happy memory caused a small smile to brighten Felicity's face despite the circumstances- it had been one of the only times Oliver had let his guard down with her and smiled a real genuine smile._

A new wave of determination shone through her. Felicity hated mysteries; they bugged her, and she would figure out who had taken her and why, no matter how long it took. Just like Oliver had told her, she couldn't give up. Felicity had no doubt that Oliver would save her and Thea, so letting the fear that had worked its way into her chest go, she filled herself with one powerful emotion; hope.


	12. A Waiting Game

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, once again I want to say a massive thank you for all the support, the kudos and comments and a thank you to my beta Rebekah96. Please let me know what you thought of the chapter, enjoy :)

Time played on a loop; it was the one thing Oliver so desperately wished he could control. He was back on the Island again- stuck in purgatory, one step in heaven, one step in hell. The horrifying thought sent a shiver down his spine. If only he could go back to the perfectness of that afternoon, her golden hair tickling his chest as he held her in his arms, or even skip forward these torturous hours until Felicity is in his arms once again and Thea by his side.

Oliver had been pacing back and forth, wearing the foundry floor thin. The incessant vibrating of his phone showed yet another missed call from his probably now frantic mother. Dig, usually the voice of reason, had been cleaning his weapons, a fairly normal everyday act, although if you looked close enough, you would realise he had been scrubbing the same part for over an hour. Sara, on the other hand, spent the first half an hour battering the worn training dummies until not one still stood, the rhythmic clanging of metal on metal had been sounding ever since. The most surprising reaction was Roy. He had taken the news of the newest team members kidnapping harshly. If anyone asked, he would deny it, but he saw the team as the family he had never had and, when not only Felicity but also his girlfriend had been taken, he had shut down completely.

Hours passed by like months, minutes torturing the team, whilst each passing second managed to scrape away a small part of whatever hope they desperately clung to. The whirring of computers filled the cold basement- the team were helpless until the search had finished. There was nothing to do but wait. Felicity and Thea's life depended on these three machines and one small scan. It was a waiting game but, the problem was, no-one knew how to win.

…

Felicity glared at the man's huge frame, towering over her. Her mind whizzed, a thousand thoughts a moment, trying to piece together the insanity of the situation. Felicity couldn't be sure what finally triggered it but it felt as if something had clicked inside of her, the puzzle finally slotting together. Her clouded thoughts no longer clawed at each other in a battle of survival, now it made sense.

The dust cleared from the ground, revealing she had been standing above the answer all this time. The monotonous sound of dirty water leaving its trail down the stone walls and splashing against the ground now made her smile. The darkened figures who stood silently around her, watching their prisoners, now drew no fear. The dim artificial glow slipping underneath the heavy door now almost brought a smug happiness to her. Sweat poured from her, plastering the thin material of her clothes to her skin as she gulped nervously against her suddenly dry mouth. Her lips parted slightly, before closing once again in fear. Shaking away the terrifying stray thoughts of failure, Felicity began to speak.

…

A deafening beeping noise surprised the team, temporarily paralyzing Oliver to the spot. They reached the computers simultaneously, the atmosphere dangerously altering. A new bam of hope fell across the room, the team knew what the sound signalled; the search was complete. Grabbing possession of Felicity's central computer screen, Oliver clicked about the screen, his eyes, frantic with desperation, skimmed over the scan's results. Blood rushed through his ears, the pressure building behind his eyes and all he could see was Felicity.

''It's found a match!'' Oliver exclaimed briefly, his attention drawn back to the screen. His fingers flew across the keyboard, every action, every second passing by meant he was closer to seeing them again. Pulling up the slightly blurred surveillance, Oliver pointed towards the half hidden van, zooming in on the barely recognisable logo.

''Traffic cams caught the van one mile from the mansion between one and half one.''

Pushing Oliver to one side, Sara took control. After few clicks and tapping of keys later, the blurred image became clear. It was a small black triangle, the Greek delta symbol prominently in the centre whilst two thick lines sliced through the image; a company logo.

''The logo is registered to a company called Delta Industries. But hacking into their mainframe is going to take a while. I might have some experience on a computer but I'm no Felicity!'' After several minutes, Sara threw her hands up in exasperation, '' I can't do it! Even if I knew how, their firewalls too hard to breach, so unless anyone happens to know what program or algorithm Felicity would use then we're stuck.''

As Sara's hopeful gaze met the confused expressions, it was Roy how spoke up. ''We could always call Lance?''

Silently cursing under his breath, Oliver nodded. As much as he hated including Lance in their mission for fear of his identity being found out, he had no other choice; this was Felicity and Thea.

…

Felicity could feel a small bubble of hope spreading through her body. Although her body was a dead weight, she could feel the paralysis wearing off as she stretched her facial muscles into a smirk. A darkened figure approached her, his foul breath scorching her skin.

''Obviously you're enjoying this too much. We will have to put a stop to that, won't we?'' The snarl in his voice sent Felicity's fear into over drive. Collecting her scattered thoughts together, she inhaled shakily, dreading what would come next.

Letting the air fall out of her lungs, Felicity glared at the man. ''It was your men that broke into the mansion, wasn't it?'' The man's smirk faltered slightly at the corner of his lips, the slight hesitation in his voice told Felicity she was correct.

''You're a smart one, aren't you?'' As the man reached behind, Felicity gulped, recognising the flash of dulled metal. Running his fingertips along the jagged blade, Felicity watched, horrified, as a red droplets trickled down his fingers, staining the blade. Grasping onto whatever remains of courage and quite possibly insanity, Felicity continued.

''But you don't work for him, do you? I can tell by your suit. It's barely noticeable but the slight uneven stitching on the side shows someone has sewed it back up. My father's men wear custom-made kevlar suits that not even a bullet can penetrate, there's no way you'd be able to stitch it back up.''

The snarl across the man's lips was soon replaced with a scorching rage, his eyes now black with no remorse as he took a threatening step even closer to her. But Felicity continued, determined not to succumb to the fear crawling across her skin.

''The poorly structured walls and the cheap lighting in the hallway… My father knows what I am capable of and he would never leave me that unsecured. So who are you working for and what do you want me for?''

''SHUT UP!'' The man roared at her, his raucous voice silencing the room.

Dread enveloped Felicity's and she watched in horror as, one by one, the men who were once working at the lab tables exited the room by a silent order. Theories swam through her buzzing mind; the men had to be mercenaries, there was no other explanation. No, this was far worse than Felicity had thought, her father would only hire the best mercenaries and judging by the glimpse she had had of the gun tucked in his belt, she could tell immediately that it was a Cobra CA380, the cheapest hand-gun on the market.

Shaking her heavy head, the realisation dawned on her; if these untrained mercenaries had kidnapped her then that meant she was wanted. Her father must have been getting desperate and offered a high reward for her return. It meant that not only is it possible that every mercenary around is searching for her, but they also knew where she was.

It was the blinding pain of the jagged blade slicing open the skin on her arm that snapped her back to reality. The burning sensation in her arm shot its fiery talons across her now red stained skin. But the pain didn't frighten Felicity like it was supposed to; in fact, it gave her a new determination. She had the loose end now and no matter what happened, she was going to pull at it until the figure's whole world unravelled.

…

''I need information on Delta Industries and any reports of a stolen vehicle'' Oliver grumbled into the phone, any care for formalities gone.

''Just give me a minute…''

''I don't have a minute, Detective'' Oliver glared back.

''LISTEN, I know your girl or teammate or whatever has been taken, but you need to have some patience. I can't magic up the information from nowhere'' Sighing, Lance made his way over to Kelton's desk and began to call out demands. ''Okay, it looks like there was a van reported stolen three nights ago; it says the investigation is ongoing. There were no signs of break in and little struggle, the lock was still intact and forensics only tracked one pair of boot prints. It looks like an inside job, whoever took the van must have had access to a set of keys.''

''I need a list of all known employees past and present including security detail and cleaners, anyone who goes in and out of that building regularly.''

''You do realise that's over a thousand employees?''

''I don't care! I will meet you on Bernard's Café's rooftop in fifteen minutes.'' Hanging up the phone Oliver sighed, ''There has to be something else we can do.''

Roy pondered for a moment. He had begun to string together some form of plan, but had no idea how far it would work. ''So, I was thinking, what about the guard? Mr. Francis wasn't it? What if he phoned whoever he worked for at the mansion or nearby? If I had hired someone as a kidnapper, I would want them to check in and contact me before or even after they made the heist.''

''You're a genius, Roy Harper!'' Sara sung to him, reaching up and pressing a sloppy kiss on Roy's forehead, only to be slapped away by a smiling Roy. Stretching out the muscles in her hand, Sara got to work typing away frantically at the keyboard. She was considerably slower than Felicity, in fact, she had no idea how Felicity could even type that fast!

It took Sara roughly an hour before she had finally managed to hack into the nearest mobile mast and satellite in order to identify any mobile activity around the time of the kidnapping. Oliver had left and returned with a list of names and was slowly looking into each of them on one of the spare monitors, whilst Roy did the same on the remaining monitor. Dig had been contemplating whether to involve ARGUS or not. It would certainly help them find Felicity and Thea quicker, but Waller's help almost always came with a price and, even if it was one Oliver was willing to pay, once Waller learnt about the Mirakuru in Felicity, he feared that she would either become a prisoner or a test subject.

No matter how hard the youngest member of Team Arrow tried to hide it, Sara could still see the small drooping of his eyes, the way they stared, unfocused, at the screen. The team needed a rest. She and Oliver may be used to pulling all-nighters from the Island, Dig may have some experience from the military, but Roy had none. This insane amount of stress was not doing any of them good and, when she finally broke into the satellite's frequencies, Sara almost let out a squeal. God she was spending too much time with Felicity!

The computer screen filled with a satellite view of the mansion.

''What are those?'' Oliver gruffly pointed to the five energy pulses on the screen.

''Cell phones emit an RF energy signal when making and receiving calls. These five spots show three different calls in the mansion earlier today. If we subtract the calls you made to Felicity and Thea, then that leaves three traces and I'm willing to bet one of them is our guy.''

Glancing away from the screens, Dig strode backwards, snatching his gun from the table and clicking the safety lock in place.

''Where are you going?'' Roy raised his eyebrows at him.

''There has to be something we can do to narrow the signals down to one so I'm going to find out which staff made or received calls and where they were positioned at the time.'' Looking towards Oliver for confirmation, Dig retreated to the foundry steps at the slight head nod Oliver returned.

Coming forwards to lean his weight against the desk, Roy looked towards his team, ''if we find the signal, we'll be able to trace it, right?''

A brief silence met his question, a pause in time.

''Hopefully'' Sara muttered under her breath to avoid Oliver's death stricken glare.

…

Felicity shot daggers at the looming figure in front of her. She knew her next words would push him over the edge but that was what she wanted. Years being taught by her father showed her that making your opponent break and show emotion meant you had all the control.

''You think you scare me, but you don't. It's pathetic, really. How you call yourselves mercenaries yet you can't even afford a decent weapon?''

An explosion of flames erupted in his eyes, a new wave of rage vibrating off him. The sound of his fist connecting with her paled cheek bounced off the walls. Spitting a mouthful of blood onto the floor in distaste, she glanced up at the fuming man, an innocent smile playing on her face.

''I'm sorry, did something I say upset you?'' Felicity teased the man, knowing every second she drew away from his mission gave Oliver a handful more precious time to find them. An empty weight had filled her chest at the sight of the men leaving the room, she knew that the figure was running out of time and if Oliver didn't arrive in the next few minutes, the consequences would be unthinkable.

Tears clouded her vision at the thoughts of Oliver turning up too late and finding only his sister's lifeless body to greet him. Time could drag on, every minute feeling like a torturous hour, yet hours could pass in the blink of an eye. It only took one second, if Oliver to turn up a second or an hour or day too late, the aftermath would still be the same.

The nervous ticks in the man's posture, the agitated fidgeting, the continuous glancing behind him, and the thin beads of sweat, gave away his impatience to her. It was almost as if he was afraid, and that could never be a good thing! Felicity guessed that he was waiting for someone, someone to make the trade with, but there was still one question that made the insides of her veins freeze; what about Thea? She knew he could sell her off- there would be plenty of eager buyers looking to make money from a ransom. A cold fear settled in her as she glanced over at Thea's still unmoving body.

Felicity knew that she had to escape now, she had waited too long for Oliver and now their time had run out. Every moment she had been holding onto the hope of Oliver and the team rescuing them, but it had been one maybe two days and it was time to face the harsh reality. Oliver probably hadn't even noticed they were gone or simply didn't care. A sharp pain stabbed itself in Felicity's chest; Oliver wasn't coming, if he was, he would be here by now. Felicity could feel the hope slipping through her clutched fingers, now grasping at thin air. Shaking away the cold emotionless thoughts, Felicity tried to piece her broken self together. She had to for Thea's sake.

…

As the phone began to vibrate, Oliver reached forward, instinctively snatching up the phone before the first ring had even finished. A minute later, he ended the call, glancing upwards he saw four hopeful eyes burning into him.

''Dig came through, he's sent over a copy of everything he found out.''

Nodding quickly, Sara's attention returned to the busy computer screen in front of her. Pulling up the information of when and where phone calls were made by various staff in the mansion, she quickly identified the remaining RF signal that hadn't been accounted for. ''There,'' her finger pressed up against the cool glass of the screen, she pointed to the only red flickering circle left on the screen, ''That's the signal.''

''What now?'' Roy asked, feeling completely useless. Stick him in a fight and he could hold his own but put him anywhere near a computer and it was like a strange new language to him.

''I'm hacking back into the satellite, it shouldn't take anywhere near as long now I've already one it once. Okay, right now I just need to… DAMMIT!'' Slamming her fists explosively on the desk in frustration, Sara felt the last straw of hope finally falling to the ground. ''He used a burner phone, I can't trace it. The one time we come up with a criminal that's actually smart enough to dump any evidence, Felicity is not with us to do one of her techy back-up things!''

''There has to be another way, I don't care what it is.'' Oliver spat through gritted teeth, his anger beginning to show.

''Can't you connect the signal with the list of employees somehow?'' Roy suggested.

''That could work! I guess we will need to ask Dad for a favour again''

''That will take too long. By the time I have even arranged a meeting, they could be dead.''

''Well what do you suggest then Oliver because I certainly don't know how to hack into phone records?''

''I do.'' The team looked towards Oliver in shock, ''Felicity taught me.''

Moving to one side, Sara watched Oliver take over, typing away at the keys as if each touch left a burn mark, sizzling his skin.

…

''You think your Robin Hood wannabe friend is going to save you, but it looks like even that psycho has abandoned you now.'' Menace dripped from the figures voice, the vile manner in which he spoke chilling Felicity to her bone.

''You're wrong,'' she growled back, her emotions escaping her.

''And you're delusional!'' he snapped at her.

Refocusing on her escape, a blinding flicker of hope lifted away the dread and terror strapping her down, her trapped body now moments away from freedom. She subtly rubbed her fingertips together, the paralysis now wearing off. Hearing the man voice her greatest fear made something sinister click inside of her.

''HE WILL COME AND YOU'RE GOING TO WISH HE KILLED EVERY ONE OF YOU!'' Felicity roared at him, her temper now slipping beyond her control.

The man stepped backwards, a sick smile spreading rapidly across his face.

''You're going to pay for that,'' he spoke softly, but the threat was very real. Following his gaze, a clench of fear punctured her as his eyes landed on Thea's helpless body. ''The dealer was very specific in his instructions for your life, but he never said anything about hers...''

Felicity watched, terror gripping her, as the man bent down over Thea's body. Unable to move from her chained prison, Felicity looked on, a sick churning rising in her throat. The man grabbed Thea by her neck, pinning her against the wall. Trails of tears gushed down Thea's paralysed body, a terrified expression frozen on her face. All Felicity could do was watch her best friend gasping for breath, knowing that everyone could be her last, and it was all Felicity's fault.

Fury shot through Felicity at the thought, so powerful it blinded her temporarily. Its strength was something more powerful than she had ever felt before and, for the first time, Felicity truly feared herself. Wrenching her body forward, she pulled on the steel chains, forcing every last ounce of her energy into it. Gritting her teeth together in pain, her eyes filled with red, her vision no longer human but that of a rabid animal running on revenge and instinct. A slow creaking filled the empty room, as Felicity gave in to the Mirakuru fully. Hate, revenge, and rage fuelled her movements as she broke free of the chains, dropping them to the floor. Traces of the loyal, happy, babbling girl were long gone; in her place was a cold, empty killer with no remorse.

A look of shock fell upon the man's face, quickly replaced with pure fear. Dropping his hold on Thea's neck, the man rushed towards the door screaming for back-up, desperate to escape, but Felicity was upon him.

…

It took another hour but eventually Oliver came through. The team had been working solidly for nearly 40 hours straight and exhaustion was finally starting to take over. Sara had sent both Roy and Diggle to get some rest but both had refused so they had compromised on the foundry's pull out sofa bed to avoid missing anything. It came as a revelation when Oliver's search came through.

''Pete Anderson,'' he stated simply after waking the others up.

Typing away once again, Sara could have kissed the screen when her search came up.

''He owns a factory in the glades, and, surprise surprise, it's abandoned!''

''They are there, they have to be there!'' Roy's whispered, now fully alert.

''We found them!'' Grabbing his bow, Oliver charged out of the foundry, the rest of the team hot on his heels. A small smile lit his face. They had found them, and soon Felicity and Thea would be safe in his arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so the next chapter is going to be a bit different. It is basically the kidnapping from Thea's POV including a missing scene and finishing with a continuation of the next chapter. I hope you guys will like it :)


	13. Thea

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: First things first, this chapter, as I mentioned in the previous A/N's is a bit different. It is told entirely from Thea's perspective and covers the last two chapters plus scenes into the next one. So I really hope you enjoy it as much as I loved writing it so please let me know what you think :) Once again thank you for all the comments and kudos they mean a lot! and thank you to my beta Rebekah96! :)

Thick arms gripped her body tightly, a slight heaviness clouding her head, the feeling of nausea slowly deepening with every jolt. As Thea blinked open groggily, an immediate sense of panic set in. A new wave of dizziness washed over, her vision distorted somehow. It took Thea longer than it should to recognise that her world was upside down. Filtering through her cloudy mind, the last thing she remembered was going to find Oliver with Felicity. Coming to the conclusion that she must have passed out at some point and that Oliver was probably the one carrying her, she relaxed slightly in his arms, her stiffened body now limp and relaxed, her eyelids dropping slowly.

 

Thea could feel her body slipping despite Oliver's harsh grip. She could feel his rough hands grasp painfully to her top, catching a loose strand of her hair and her vision lurched as he violently tossed her body back over his shoulder. In this new position his surprisingly bony shoulder was digging sharply into her chest, her hair still caught in Oliver's fist. Despite the exhaustion sweeping over her, Thea knew that there was no way she could fall back asleep in this position. Bracing herself for Oliver's inevitable anger at her drunken state, she began to wriggle; twisting and turning in his tight grip. His hand twitched at her movement, registering that she was awake and, abruptly, they stopped.

 

Flickering open her heavy eyes in confusion, she glanced around the blurry corridor. Not recognising their location, she lifted her head only to regret it seconds later as a sharp blaring pain pulsated through her temple and a flood of nausea engulfed her. Forcing her vision downwards so the pain subsided temporarily, she concentrated on her restricted line of vision to try and work out why Oliver had taken her here, wherever here was.

 

The grey floor seemed worn, as if it had been walked upon for years and then abandoned. The next thing in her line of vision was the backs of male shoes, and, following their legs, she noticed their black combat trousers. Thea stilled, paralyzed as her eyes settled on a small handgun tucked into the back of the jeans. A freezing panic set in, her body no longer limp with exhaustion but now frozen with fear. Closing her eyes, she began wishing this was just some crazy dream and she would wake up safe in her bedroom. This failed to calm her frantic stomach.

 

The man, that was definitely not Oliver, wrenched his hand from behind her neck, and knocked loudly against the heavy door. Seconds passed and then the low sound of voices filled the air. The man strode into the darkened room and threw her body onto the ground as you would a bag after a long day of work. The first thing Thea felt was a blinding pain erupting from her wrist as it touched the stone floor. Gagging at the sound of crunching bone, she struggled to stand back up. Her clumsy, slow body movements seemed to elicit sickening laughter from the men. Gripping her trembling hand against the wet wall for support, she stood, watching the world spin around her. Her weakened legs were now numb and unresponsive as she willed them to move.

 

Tears clouded her vision, the two figures now blurs of black. One moved closer towards her, his arm outstretched. Thea slapped it away, distancing herself from him by falling further into the corner. Stumbling backwards, her fear only grew as the one figure advanced towards her.

 

Blindly pushing forwards, she lunged at the man scraping her nails across his cheek, a desperate attempt of escape. The man roared in anger, grabbing her throat between his hands. The air seemed to leave the room, white spots appearing in her sight. Then, just as suddenly as he had grabbed her, he threw her lifeless body to the ground, kicking her painfully into the corner.

 

A burning pain erupted in her side from his boot and sickening thump filled the air as her head smashed against the stone wall. The other man approached her now, holding something in his hand as he advanced her.

 

Darkness swept across her vision, slowly engulfing everything in her sight. Pain flared through her as she finally lost the fight to stay awake. The last thing Thea felt before she drifted into an unconscious bliss was the rough hand pushing aside her matted curls and a sharp prick in her neck.

 

…

 

As her eyes closed, Thea found herself back at the mansion, her father sitting at the table, his eyes concentrated on the newspaper in front of him, his arm around her mother's shoulder. Oliver was sitting across from them, smirking at Thea and pulling faces as their father placed sloppy kisses on top on their mother's head. The smell of pancakes drifted through the room and beams of lights filtered in. The sound of humming echoed around the room and Thea turned to find Raisa in the background cooking. This picture was the definition of perfection but Thea knew all too well that it wasn't real. Slowly, she felt herself being pulled away from the scene around her.

 

As she started to come to, edges of the scene starting to waver, the light now rippling, a dull pain began to stir in her arm and the back of her head. Slowly, she felt herself being dragged from the blissful state, being thrown violently back into reality.

 

A panic started to set in her stomach as she tried to blink open her eyelids but found her eyes glued shut. Next she tried to wiggle her fingers but pure panic began to grow when she found them frozen still. Desperately trying to move any part of her body and, failing, a bolt of terror stung her, leaving her breathless. She could feel the damp trail of a tear run down her face; she was paralyzed and had no clue where she was.

 

Her heart beat furiously, trying to escape the confines of her ribcage. Her breathing became more rapid as she struggled to find air. The cold floor beneath her vanished and she could feel her body falling, faster and faster. Her arm screamed at her in fury, voices filled the room, laughing, screaming, voices of torture and pain. This was it, this was how she would die.

 

One persistent and somewhat familiar feminine voice stuck with her and she zeroed in on that. It was the cold hands that gripped on her shoulder, shaking her awake, screaming her name that finally brought her back. She could hear someone sobbing into her shoulder, begging for her to open her eyes. The fiery sensation of hope flooded through her veins as she recognised the voice; Felicity. A small whimper of relief left her lips, she hated herself for being glad that Felicity was in this mess with her, but Thea was just relived that she no longer alone.

 

Not being able to communicate with Felicity as she continued to call her name, frustrated Thea, but there was nothing she could do about it. She could feel Felicity move her hands towards the back of her head, she presumed to check for any signs of injury. Thea winced as Felicity came into contact with a particularly tender spot, but when she heard a sigh of relief, she relaxed a little, now knowing that whatever had taken away her movement was not serious. The sound of a man's voice broke the silence. Although Thea couldn't make out his exact words, the threatening tone was unmistakeable.

 

Fear began to set in again as she could feel Felicity wrapping her shaking arms around her body trying to protect her. The way Felicity gripped onto her, she knew that whoever had walked in laughed at the nightmares that made grown men cry.

 

A cold air filled the space around her, her hair stood on end as terror ripped away at her. She could hear Felicity let out a sharp intake of air and then a moment later her own cries filled the room as the strength died out in Felicity's arms and her limp body fell on top of hers.

 

Thick arms tore Felicity's body off of her and all Thea could do was let out a panicked moan. The sensation of something heavy whacking against her head set a fire of pain burning. Seconds passed by slowly as the now familiar darkness began to take over once again.

 

…

 

This time when Thea awoke, there were no light memories or Felicity's voice to support her. Instead she woke to the raw, aggressive shouts of a man. Trying to ignore the sound of blood rushing to her ears, Thea could barely make out two voices. Focusing on these, she could clearly distinguish Felicity's voice and the man's from before, their words were jumbled but from what she could tell the man was getting more frustrated by the second, his voice dropping in pitch and rising in volume.

 

The next sound that she heard made Thea wish she could move purely to clutch her hands to the side of her ears so she wouldn't ever have to witness it again. A scream of agonising pain echoed through the room, a humourless laugh following it. Tears once again sprung to her eyes, she was powerless and, to be honest, even if she wasn't paralyzed, there wasn't really anything she could do. Listening helplessly to her friend's scream was haunting.

 

Thea was expecting the sounds of muffled crying to fill the room next, or to hear Felicity's weakened voice begging the man to stop, but instead her voice, strong and vibrant as ever spoke out as if nothing had happened. As Thea tried to work out what Felicity was saying, her confusion grew. What the hell was Felicity doing? It sounded like she was taunting the man, but why on earth would she do that?

 

A surge of hope began to run through her veins as the heaviness strapping her body from the floor seemed to lighten. Forcing any part of her body to move, she found herself able to wearily blink open her eyes slowly. Still unable to move any other parts of her body, she stared upwards, her blurred vision targeted on the blackened ceiling above. 

 

Listening back into the conversation, her heart lurched at the words; Robin Hood. Robin Hood? Did he mean the vigilante? Wait, how did Felicity know the vigilante? The sound of Felicity screaming in response startled Thea.

 

''HE WILL COME AND YOU'RE GOING TO WISH HE KILLED EVERY ONE OF YOU!'' The fact that Starling City's vigilante was coming to save them should probably offer comfort to her but Thea knew his reputation and couldn't help the fear that shook her.

 

A tsunami of panic took over at the man's next words; ''The dealer was very specific in his instructions for your life, but he never said anything about hers...''. The man was upon Thea before she could even blink, strong hands, that she imagined had taken so many lives, lifted her from the ground, shoving her painfully against the stone wall. From this new position Thea could see the whole room clearly, her attention immediately landing on Felicity as they locked eyes in comfort. Felicity was tied up by some form of chains, her arms hanging above her head, blood dripping from an angry gash in her arm. The look of sorrow and guilt shone through Felicity's eyes and all Thea could do was muster up a small movement in her still numb lips, telling Felicity that it wasn't her fault.

 

The fiery pain attacking her throat grew as his large hands squeezed the air out. A collection of tears pooled in her eyes, dripping slowly down her cold cheeks. Black spots appeared through her vision, the blurred room that had dangerously lurched from side to side now just a mess of different colours and shapes. The feeling in her limbs began to return, but it was too late. Thea started to struggle weakly against the man's strong hold, her pathetic attempts doing nothing. At least she would go down fighting.

 

A commotion sounded behind the man, steel chains falling to the ground, a low growl emerging from the darkness. The man's grip loosened slightly, his attention focused fully on whatever was happening behind him. Taking advantage, Thea gulped down air, the black dots beginning to fade. A second later, the man was pulled from her and thrown across the room, his head cracking forcefully against the wall. A small figure began to attack the men viciously, tearing apart the masses of soldiers storming through the door; a starved shark amidst a school of frightened fish.

 

Thea watched in horror as the armed men crowded around Felicity, one launching itself onto her back, digging a needle forcefully into her neck before Felicity threw the man off with ease. She tore at the men, knocking every last one to the ground in moments, blood coating the men's bodies that littered the floor.

 

Thea couldn't look away from the bodies, she had no idea if they were alive or not. The sick men that took her deserved to die but seeing their bodies together in masses upon the ground made her wish that they weren't. Cool hands on the side of her face, lifted her from her daze. ''Don't worry. They're not all dead.'' The deep sound of a voice modulator froze her to the spot.

 

Letting the figure's hand underneath her chin raise her vision upwards and away from the injured, she took in the masked man in front of her. Instead of the expected man of green, a man in red perched so he blocked the view of the bodies. In the corner of her eyes Thea could see a blur of green hovering where she had last seen Felicity. Fear fuelled her faltered movements as she crawled backwards, away from the masked man.

 

''I know you are scared, but we have to get out of here now! More men are on their way, the dealer is already here.'' His hand placed itself on her trembling shoulder, trying to offer comfort.

 

Shaking her head in panic, Thea stumbled to her feet, the room spinning before her. Strong arms reached out and caught her falling body.

 

''You can't walk on your own. I'll have to carry you ok?'' The figure in red placed his bow carefully on the ground.

 

The small quirk of his head and grimace as he noticed her clutching onto her burning arm seemed somewhat familiar. 

 

''N-no'' Thea somehow managed to form a word coherently.

 

Touching something in his ear, the figure glowered; ''We have to go... now!''

 

He reached towards her, but there was something about him. Sure, she recognised him from the media, he's the vigilante's sidekick, but that wasn't it, it was almost as if she knew him and that revelation made Thea's skin crawl. He shuffled forwards, his expression softening at her fear.

 

''You have to trust me, there is no other way. We have less than a minute before the guards get here. If I pick you up, you can't struggle or scream, you have to be silent, otherwise they will hear us. Okay?'' The figure in red reached forwards, gently cupping her cheek, ''hey, we are the good guys.''

 

''How do I know you won't just kidnap me like the other men did? Why should I trust you?'' The words slipped from her mouth in a whisper.

 

The masked figure leaned forward, pressing something on the side of his suit, turning his voice modulator off. This time when he spoke, Thea could hear his true voice, the voice she trusted and loved so many times.

 

''Because you always have.''

 

The four words sent a chill down her spine, a part of her still believing this was some crazy dream. Roy leaned forwards, their foreheads now pressing against one another, their faces inches apart. His lips ghosted over hers and it was enough to know that this was real, Roy was really here, he really was, as the media called him, 'The Red Arrow'. A million questions rang through her mind but she was just too exhausted to even pick one.

 

Roy picked her up in one swift motion, cradling her exhausted body. Thea curled into his touch, pressing her tear stained face into his chest as they walked out of the horrific room that would forever torment her with nightmares.

 

The Red Arrow had saved her. Her boyfriend, Roy, was her very own hero.


	14. Rescue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hey guys, I'm so sorry for leaving this long to update I have had so much on recently. Hopefully the chapter will make up for that and I have finally introduced one of my favourite characters this chapter!! Thank you all for all your comments and kudos and thanks to my beta Rebekah96. Hope you enjoy and please give feedback via comments or feel free to tweet me on @ndubletmixer :)

Men clothed fully in black piled into the room, a swarm of ants surrounding her. Felicity saw targets, threats. The moment one man laid a finger on Thea, she lost control. Throwing punches one after another, the satisfying crunching sound as her fist connected with her attacker's chins echoed off the walls. Felicity tore the men apart, knocking them out cold using every last bit of control in herself to remain from killing; losing her humanity like that would be something she knew she couldn't come back from.

At the sound of a pain-filled moan, Felicity glanced over to Thea's crumpled body; her pale skin standing out against her weakened body. Anger washed through Felicity at seeing her friend in this state, though she soon came to regret that temporary moment of humanity. Following her short lapse in concentration, Felicity felt a sharp prick in her neck, as rough hands grabbed her from behind. Flipping the attacker off easily, she tore the empty syringe from her neck, crushing the glass in her fist and crying out in pain as another pulled their gun on her. She collapsed on one knee, her thigh erupting with an excruciating burning pain. The remaining men snarled at her, closing in, preparing to tear apart their prey. Clutching the wound, she felt the blood soaking through her reddened hands. She knew that the Mirakuru meant the healing process was quicker but the pain was one thing it didn't take away.

The blinding fire in her thigh seemed to snap her out of whatever emotionless state she was in. As she glanced around at the thick bodied guards closing in on her, her eyes slipped past the men landing on the piles of bodies coating the bloodied ground. In that one moment every survival instinct in her that kept her fighting slipped from her very fingers. It left her bare, unprotected against the war going on inside her. Unable to tear her eyes away from the horror she had caused, Felicity felt her body turn numb. It made no difference that the guards were simply unconscious, the worst possibly with fatal injuries, because Felicity knew that she could have just as easily killed them and the thought horrified her. In fact, the angle at which one guard lay, a pool of blood cushioning his head, his dull eyes open and locked on the ceiling up above. Felicity knew in that moment that this was another life she had taken, a soldier with a family and life outside of this facility. Sure, the man wasn't innocent but there is nothing someone can do, no action on this earth that can justify taking a life from another.

No matter how hard Felicity tried to deny it, how much she tried to avoid her past, it always seemed to follow her around like an inescapable shadow. Felicity had become the very nightmare that had haunted her nights since she was a child; she had turned into her father, a monster with only one setting- to kill.

Her body numbed its senses, her mind drifting away from reality until it landed on one particular memory:

_Her father had been so proud, beaming up at her, happy she had passed the first stage of his trials. Happy that his plan was finally working. However, just as suddenly his expression turned foul, fury lining the deep gashes on his face. As his eyes lay upon her trembling form, he spoke not like a father but a psychopath._

_''Comforting yourself won't get you anywhere. You took your first life today. You watched his eyes as you drained his soul.''_

_''He attacked me. I had no choice.'' Felicity's muffled voiced sobbed out._

_''You acted on instinct. Strip away the scars society has littered you with, drop the act of this_ _'Felicity' that you call yourself, peel away the hatred you see me with, the humanity restraining the real you from showing and you are left with your raw self. Underneath all of that emotion and personality you crave to have, you are left with instinct. Your instincts, the subconscious mind letting out repressed desires, that's who you really are; a killer.''_

Felicity barely felt it as two guards lifted her to her feet, their guns aimed in silent threat against her temple. She barely acknowledged when an arrow sliced the man's gun from his grip and a blur of green took down the figures surrounding her. The feeling of numbness coursed through her body, from her hands to her mind.

Suddenly Oliver's hands were gently resting on her chin, guiding her gaze away from the bloodied mess. As her eyes found their path to his, the throbbing pain in her thigh seemed to die away, a cold sensation sweeping through her legs. She lurched forward suddenly, all feeling lost in her legs. Unable to support her weight, she fell towards Oliver's outstretched arms, noticing a terrified expression painting his face.

"Felicity, what's wrong?" "Felicity!" "FELICITY, TALK TO ME!"

Her eyes flickered open, focusing on Oliver's face towering above her, his thumb rubbing slowly across her cheek. Leaning subconsciously into his touch, her eyes filled with panic; she couldn't feel Oliver's touch. Remembering the syringe with a jolt, Felicity began to speak, to warn Oliver, but her lips fell heavy, too heavy to move. In one desperate attempt, she lifted her outstretched hand, only succeeding in turning it to face Oliver, but it was good enough. His eyes followed hers and widened at the sight of the remaining shard of glass embedded in her once pure hands. A whimper escaped from her lips and that was the last thing she remembered before darkness once again fell upon the room.

…

This time when Felicity awoke, the coldness she had felt before had been replaced by Oliver's arms wrapping around her small frame, the panic replaced by a reassuring sense of safety, the darkness now dim lighting and the faint glow from the foundry's computer screens and the deafening silence replaced by warm chatter amongst the gentle humming from her monitors. The second Oliver realised she was awake, he was instantly closer, his face millimetres from hers. His hands ran along her arms, his voice desperate as questions poured from his lips.

"Can you feel this?" "Can you move your fingers?" "Blink if you can hear me?" "Does anything hurt?" "Are you okay?"

It was Dig that managed to pry Oliver away from her, claiming that Felicity needed space to breath. Felicity could make out the whispered argument between Oliver and Dig despite Sara's voice beside her attempting to drown them out. After a lot of grunts Oliver was finally sitting next to her holding her limp hand tightly to his chest.

"I'm so sorry, Felicity. But I have to check on Thea. I don't want to leave you but I have to see how my sister is and if Oliver Queen doesn't show up at the hospital people will start asking questions. I'm sorry. I will be right back, I promise." Pressing a lingering kiss on her forehead, Oliver stood up hesitantly and made his way out of the foundry.

…

Oliver barrelled into the double doors with such a force a nurse startled from behind, he rushed towards the reception desk demanding to see his sister. Trying to prevent his Arrow voice slipping through and failing, the now terrified receptionist pointed him towards one of the many corridors and Oliver was running off before the lady even had a chance to look up the room number. Spotting the numerous police officers collected in the hallway, he made his way towards them, demanding to know what had happened.

At the sound of the commotion, Moira stepped out of Thea's hospital room, catching her distraught son by his arm.

"Is Thea okay?"

Moira began to nod, "Broken arm and ribs and there are several bruises around her neck but she is mainly just shaken up."

Oliver visibly relaxed at the news, tension leaving his shoulders for a second before anger flooded its place.

"And Felicity?" he asked, trying to keep up appearances.

"I'm sorry Mr. Queen," a young-looking policeman stepped forward, a look of guilt washing over his face, "The Hood took her".

"WHAT?!" Oliver stepped forward threateningly. "YOU LET THAT PSYCHO TAKE HER?"

The officer's bravery escaped him at Oliver's outburst, shrinking back into the safety of the other officers.

"I'm sorry, sir. She was gone by the time our team got there."

"Oliver, calm down," his mother reached out to him, squeezing his arm in comfort, "I'm sure she will be fine. I know The Hood has killed but the police have men looking all over for her and he has never taken a hostage before."

Oliver hadn't realised the ferocity of the anger flowing through him until his mother brought him back. Following her into the closed hospital room, he eased his breathing, allowing the tension to flow off his body. Nodding discreetly to Roy who had taken up permanent position on one side of the bed, he stepped up towards her. When his eyes lay on Thea's broken body lying on the hospital bed his stomach turned to stone, weighing him down, every breath a struggle. Stepping forward, Oliver reached Thea's side, wrapping his hand around hers.

Recognising the sound of her brother's voice, Thea turned towards it, wincing as her movement strained her bruised body. At seeing her discomfort, Oliver was at her side immediately, helping her to manoeuvre herself to face them.

"I'm so sorry," she sobbed into Oliver's outstretched arms, "he took her and I couldn't stop him. B-b-but I think she is safe."

"Hey, it's not your fault Thea." Oliver began to stroke the wet curls away from her tear-stricken face.

"The doctors said you had traces of a paralysis running through your bloodstream." Moira jumped in, desperate to ease some of her daughter's pain.

"See" Oliver replied, "Thea, there was nothing you could do. Felicity will be alright, The Hood wouldn't save her just to hurt her later on," he reasoned.

Thea began to shake her head widely despite her throbbing neck, ''But if something happens…"

"It won't," Oliver replied simply. As Thea started to protest he repeated himself, "Thea, I promise, it won't."

…

By the time Oliver had finally left the hospital, claiming that he was needed at the office, Felicity had woken fully. He could hear Felicity's cheery voice, laughing alongside Dig's as he opened the foundry door. Rushing down the steps in hope of seeing his girl up and about, disappointment shook him at the sight of her limp body lying unmoved on the dull medical table.

Anticipating the first thing Oliver would ask, Sara began to speak, "The Mirakuru is fighting the paralysis off but due to the sheer concentration of the frequent dosages, her body has shut down meaning its taking longer to recover fully. The bullet wound on her leg should be a distant scar by now but the blood has only just started clotting."

"At least I can still speak! And I'm beginning to be able to move my fingertips slightly if I concentrate!" Felicity spoke up brightly. "How's Thea?"

"She'll be alright. Just needs time to recover"

"Good! I was worried." Felicity let out a relieved sigh. "Hey, so I know the answer already but is there any chance I can recover back at the mansion on a nice comfy bed rather than on this cold metal table?" Oliver began to protest, shaking his head violently back and forth. "No, please at least hear me out. You heard what Sara said, it's going to take a while to heal and the danger's gone now, hasn't it?"

"No, absolutely not."

"Please Oliver. I don't want to spend the rest of my life down here. It's not like I'm going to be leaving the mansion any time soon. I'll be perfectly safe."

"Fine. But I'm not happy about it." Oliver gave in, sighing exasperatedly. "But I doubt many people will believe that the vigilante contacted me."

…

Four hours had passed and the Mirakuru was left fighting off the final effects of the paralysis. The bullet wound on her leg had long since healed, leaving a vicious looking scar in its place. It was edging on 1am, the pounding music from the club a constant thumping against the foundry's silence. Both Sara and Diggle had left wordlessly, sensing the much needed unspoken words between the pair. Before Oliver had left for the hospital, Roy had returned briefly to the foundry to switch his suit for a set of spare clothes but his total stay had been less than a minute.

"Oliver, I know I'm not fully healed yet but that music is driving me insane. I know normally the constant thumping is relaxing which is weird if you think about it, normally you would think of classical music as relaxing rather than the monstrosity of noise whatever it is they are playing… Not that I think the music you play in your club is bad… I mean the DJ is good, I love him. Not _love_ love him but…"

Oliver cleared his throat, a smirk forming on his lips. He had missed this carefree side of Felicity. After all the stress and danger they had been in in the past month, he had missed the girl that made him smile.

"Wow, that pain medication really is working, I guess! My point is, can we go to the mansion now, I can barely keep my eyes open and I just really want to go home. Wait.. I didn't mean home I don't…" Letting her eyelids drop shut Felicity let out a sigh, "I'm too tired for this."

Suppressing another chuckle, Oliver wrapped an arm around her waist, taking the brunt of her weight and the pair made their way to the foundry door.

The second Felicity slid into the back seat, exhaustion washed over her. Her eyes drooped shut on their own accord, keeping them open was a battle made to be lost.

…

Felicity woke to Oliver's frantic shaking of her shoulder, hundreds of lights flashing before her eyelids, a thousand voices shouting over one another, clawing at the others to be heard. Panic immediately flooded her senses, her exhausted body on alert, ready to fight if needed. Catching Oliver's eye she knew his worry was not of danger but something else entirely so dropped her tense guard, sinking back down into the seat.

"Felicity I'm sorry I thought they would be gone by now."

Reopening her eyes, Felicity glanced behind Oliver's muscular body taking up most of the door frame, her eyes immediately blinded by flashes. A small whimper escaped her lips, "I can't. Oliver, there are too many people and the noise- I can't."

His hand reached towards her chin, lifting it upwards until their gazes met, "Felicity I'm sorry this is happening."

Trying to calm her shaking hands, Felicity knew in this sudden state of panic there was no way she could stand by herself let alone walk. Silently, she closed her eyes again, her trust instilled in the man in front of her.

Using Oliver's outstretched arm for support, Felicity lifted her aching body upwards, only to find her legs buckling beneath her. Sensing the exhaustion weighing Felicity down, Oliver placed two arms underneath her frightened body, pulling Felicity closer to his chest. Her scent filled the air around him, sending a calming serum into his bloodstream. He felt her twist in his arms, burying her face further into his chest, her tear stained cheeks leaving wet trails along his shirt. Her hand instinctively grabbed a handful of his shirt, clutching on and using it as a lifeline, an anchor.

The paparazzi seemed to go wild, their frantic shouting a frenzy of chaos. Several police officers and the mansion's security team were pushing the crowd back and somewhere in the nightmare he spotted Detective Lance. Clutching onto the blonde in his arms, he scowled at the flashes, his arrow glare sending a few stray reporters that had made their way through the barrier sprawling away from them. Fastening his pace, he strode toward the mansion, blocking out the desperate pleas and questions from the crowd. Reaching the already open door, he hurdled them both in, the remaining security team slamming the door shut behind them, although it seemed that nothing could drown out the noise from outside.

Moira had appeared at the chaotic scene, watching stoically from the top of the stair case. One look from Oliver as he strolled past, immediately let her know that her questions were not welcome right now.

He ignored the raised eyebrow his mother sent their way as he took Felicity into his room and kicked the door shut behind them. Placing her delicately on the bed, he crawled in beside her already sleeping form, covering them with the thick duvet and hoping to forget the horrors of the day.

…

No sooner had he closed his eyes, a rustling noise sent him shooting from his bed dragging the half-asleep blonde behind him. A startled scream filled the room as his blurred vision began to clear.

"I'm sorry, Mr Oliver, I thought you would be gone by now."

Oliver glanced in confusion at Raisa, his heart rate gradually beginning to slow with every fastened breath. He watched as Raisa left his room hurriedly, a spot of fear settling into her expression at his reaction. A groan sounded from behind him as Felicity climbed back into bed, grumbling under her breath about his 'ninja reactions'. Glancing at the clock on the wall behind him, he left out a muffled gasp, it was past twelve in the afternoon. He had never slept that long since the island and it was odd to be woken from something other than a nightmare.

Placing a sloppy kiss on Felicity's sleeping forehead, he let out a chuckle as she grabbed his arm, pulling him back into bed. Wrapping himself around her, a warmth filled him, something he knew his life lacked and was pleasantly surprised when he drifted off again.

When they awoke in was two in the afternoon and Oliver knew that he could no longer hide in this blissful limbo anymore. Stretching out, against Felicity's protests, he crawled from the bed, making his way over towards the bathroom. Once he was dressed and ready he sat hesitantly on the bed, waiting for Felicity to appear from the room she was staying in before everything had gone wrong. A rare smile graced his face when he caught sight of her in a flowing summer dress, one he recognised from their eventful shopping trip with Thea.

When they reached the bottom on the stair case, a deep male voice floated from the sitting room. The playful tone was one Oliver recognised but hadn't heard in weeks. Entering the room, a cautious Felicity following sharply behind, his eyes settled on the source. A small smirk tugged at the edges of his lips.

"Well if it isn't the legendary Oliver Queen. If I didn't know any better I would say you were lost on that island again."

"Tommy Merlyn" Oliver breathed.


	15. We All Have To Keep Secrets Miss Smoak

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hey guys thanks for all your responses to the last chapter it means a lot! Also a big thank you to my beta Rebekah96. Just to let you know that because I'm in the middle of revising as I have my A level exams coming up, unfortunately I wont be able to update as often :( I'm not going to abandon the story or go on a break but updates may take a bit longer depending on how much I get done so probably every three weeks. Thank you all for sticking with the story so far and I will make it up to you all as I am planning on spending the summer holidays binge writing! Feel free to contact me on twitter on @ndubletmixer and enjoy :)

_When they reached the bottom of the stair case, a deep voice floated from the sitting room. The playful tone was one Oliver recognised but hadn't heard in weeks. Entering the room, a cautious Felicity following sharply behind, his eyes settled on the source. A small smirk tugged at the edges of his lips._

_"Well if it isn't the legendary Oliver Queen. If I didn't know any better, I would say you were lost on that island again."_

_"Tommy Merlyn" Oliver breathed._

…

"Tommy? What are you doing here?"

A small grin tickled at the corners of Oliver's lips as he rushed forward, eager to be in his friend's presence. Felicity watched the exchange curiously, slowly piecing together the stories Oliver had told her of his childhood with the man grinning in front of her.

"It hurts me that you feel the need to ask." Tommy feigned mock hurt.

Oliver nodded slowly, "Thea. She's getting discharged today."

"Yep, that's why I'm here. Although, it would have been nice to hear she was okay from you rather than your mother." A small flash of hurt shot through his eyes.

"I've had a lot on..."

Tommy just nodded, knowing his friends excuse wouldn't be worth listening to. Catching a glance of blonde hair behind Oliver's shoulder, he piped up; "who's this?"

Felicity stepped out from behind Oliver. She knew it was ridiculous hiding behind him, yet she still craved the small sense of safety being near him gave her. "Felicity. Felicity Smoak" she spoke up, extending her hand out towards Tommy.

Instead of the warm welcome they expected, Tommy's face twisted from playful to serious, anger rippling across his body. "YOU."

Felicity stepped back, shocked.

"You were with Thea. Tell me why I had to see Thea wrapped up in tubes struggling to breathe because whoever took her beat her till she passed out, yet you're standing here, smiling, without a scratch. DID YOU NOT TRY AND HELP HER?"

Tommy's words sliced through her, tears prickled at her eyes as Oliver protectively stepped in Tommy's path. "Don't you dare say that to her. You have no idea what she went through there." He spat at his friend, hurt splashing across his face.

This time is was Tommy that was taken back by Oliver's sudden burst of anger, his protectiveness of the mysterious blonde shining through. "I'm sorry," Tommy immediately spoke, shocked by his outburst, "that was unfair".

Silence invaded the light shining through the huge double paned windows, filling the room as the two friends locked eyes, neither breaking contact.

It was the voice of the small blonde that finally eased the tension. "They tied me up." Both men snapped their heads to face her, a look of pure rage at her being hurt on Oliver's face and a look of horror on Tommy's. But Felicity continued, "That's why I couldn't help her. I tried but I just couldn't get to Thea."

Tommy came forward, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder and squeezing comfortingly, "I'm sorry." After a moment he spoke up again in a light tone, trying to make up for his comment, "Hey, do you think that maybe we could all go to dinner or clubbing sometime. I'd like to get to know you blondie, you seem to be such a big part of Ollie's life now."

Felicity supressed a chuckle, just as Oliver's phone started to buzz. "As long as you don't call me blondie then yeah sure".

"Barbie?"

"No"

"Lissy"

"Absolutely not"

"OOhhh I got it! How about Smoaky?"

"I'm not a cat"

"Well what can I call you then?"

"Felicity!"

"Fine! Be like that then!" Tommy mock huffed, surprised at how easy it was to joke with this stranger.

"Felicity we have to go now." Oliver spoke quietly, indicating they were needed at the foundry and adding "something's come up at the office" to satisfy Tommy's raised eyebrow. Felicity collected her coat and walked towards the door, offering Tommy one last smile before nodding to him as he made plans to meet at Verdant that night.

Despite their rocky start Felicity had a good feeling about Tommy... maybe he wouldn't be that bad after all.

…

When they entered the lair, the extreme change from light to serious hit them square in the chest the second Oliver punched in the door's code. Dig stood at the bottom of the steps, his normally calm expression filtered with panic. He started briefing them before they had even reached halfway down the steps.

"There's been another attack."

Oliver caught on quickly, switching to arrow mode instantaneously, his voice lowering in pitch. "The Reaper Brothers? I thought they were spotted in Starling?"

"Yeah, well apparently they were only passing through" Roy chipped in. "Their last hit was on Central City."

Felicity gasped, grabbing the phone Oliver had given to her in case of emergencies and dialled Star Labs frantically. "Barry? Oh my God, Barry are you okay?" Felicity broke out, ignoring the confused expressions of her team. As far as they knew Barry worked at Star Labs and that was how she knew him.

Felicity hung up, assuring the team that thankfully the area around the labs seemed to have survived the blasts and that the rest of the team were ok. "How do you know Barry?" Oliver questioned softly.

"Oh from before. He volunteered at a local computer shop in Central, I saw him there a couple of times." She brushed off, even if she was relaying a good memory, talking about her past brought up an unease that even Oliver couldn't threaten off.

"I never knew you used to live in Central?" Roy continued further, oblivious to her hesitance.

Felicity paled, an icy theory cut through her, first Coast city, now Central? Silently pleading to whoever would listen, Felicity made her way over to the computers and began to pull up a list of the cities hit. As each name flashed onto the screen, the coldness slicing through her began to grab at her lungs, sucking away the air. With shaking hands she ordered the hits by date against a map to show their locations. The result dragged her under, plunging her now shaking body to the darkest place she knew. A tsunami of nausea struck her down, flooding her senses. The room grew smaller, the walls crushing her in as she clung onto the quickly thinning air.

Suddenly it grew too much, a wave of dizziness pulsing through her, blood pounding in her ears, blocking out the worried calls from the team. Grabbing the trashcan from under the desk she emptied her stomach contents, tears stinging the back of her eyes. Oliver reacted on instinct, pulling back her hair, his hand rubbing circles into her lower back. Wiping her mouth with the tissue Dig had hesitantly held out to her, she drew back on shaking legs, attempting to stand. Her legs grew numb and she collapsed on the ground next to Oliver's concerned crouched form. Unable to look the team in the eye she began to speak, her sobs barely making her words audible. "It's me."

"Felicity, what are you talking about?"

Glancing upwards, Felicity caught Oliver's confused gaze and tried to look away, guilt eating away at her but Oliver simply placed a gentle hand on her chin, stopping her from looking away.

"The path they took from each city. All this time we were trying to find a pattern but it was me all along. The Reaper Brothers, th-they were... they were following me," Felicity choked out, covering her face in her hands as if it would make everything disappear.

Oliver sat back, his face a mix of emotions matching his teams'. It was after he heard the next words Felicity muttered that he finally kicked himself out of his shocked state.

"It's all my fault. Hundreds, thousands of lives. I –I basically killed them all. Oh god!" Clamping a hand over her mouth she could no longer contain her pained sobs. Oliver reached forward, filling her senses as he engulfed her trembling form.

"No. Don't blame yourself Felicity. Even if it is your father doing all this, The Reaper Brothers are terrorists. If this was all to do with getting you don't you think your father would have done so already, rather than wasting all this money and time, risking exposure. He's only using this to mess with you Felicity. This is exactly what he wants so don't even think about blaming yourself." The irony of his words and the sudden role change didn't sit well with Oliver. Glancing upwards he released a tense breath at seeing his team nodding at his words.

"Look there's nothing else we can do down here now so how about we get ready and go meet Tommy upstairs?" Oliver suggested, hoping to relieve some of the tension in the room. He smiled at Felicity's small nod of her head and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her flush to his side. Placing small kisses along her bare shoulder, against the teams groans, he felt a weight lift from his chest as the depression drained from the room and Felicity' hesitant smile replaced it.

"Let's go."

…

Five hours had passed since Thea had returned to the mansion. After a temporary sweep of disappointment at Oliver's absence, she smiled warmly at Tommy. Tommy had helped her up to her room, taking the brunt of her weight to ease the pain from her ribs and the pair had spent the day sprawled across the bed watching films, carefree from the drama that had been surrounding her the past few weeks. By the time Tommy had announced his departure to meet Oliver and Felicity at Verdant, Thea was exhausted and collapsed onto her bed. After several minutes she wanted nothing more than fall back unconscious to the pain and craziness of her life but the burning fire in her ribs protested. Crawling out from the warmth, she sat up, swinging her legs over the edge of her bed. Placing her bare feet on the cool wooden floor, she stood up, letting out a gasp of pain as one hand went to clutch her side immediately. After standing there like stone for a minute or two, the shooting flare of pain began to subside, the black spots in her vision clearing. Cursing herself for leaving the prescribed painkillers downstairs, she slowly padded out in search of them.

As Thea reached the hallway, drifting voices caught her attention. Pausing in her step, she listened intently, recognising one as her mothers.

_"Is it safe to talk here, Moira?"_

_"Thea's asleep and Oliver's god knows where."_

_"What about that blonde?"_

Intrigued, Thea followed the sounds, slipping quietly into one of the spare rooms and peering through the crack left by the door at the two figures. Covering her hand over her mouth, Thea let out a silent gasp. The deep voice belonged to Malcom Merlyn and Thea watched, horrified, as he began to trace his hand along Moira's arm.

_"I will contact you tonight, I can't risk anyone knowing our connection."_

_"See you then."_

Tears stinging her eyes, Thea rushed back to her room, her pain now a dull ache compared to what she had just seen. The sudden noise caused Moira to glance in her direction but Thea didn't care. Shutting the door carefully behind her, she sunk to her knees, sobbing silently into her hands. She instinctively reached for her phone, ready to message Roy but flashes from the day before filled her head. Roy had unmasked himself, revealing his secret to her and Thea honestly had no idea whether to be angry, scared or happy that he trusted her. The stress of the kidnapping was really getting to her and now finding out her mother was having an affair with Tommy's dad just tipped her over the edge. Thea really needed to talk to someone but everything with Roy was still uncertain, the only chance he had to speak with her was at the hospital but her mother had barely left them alone for a second.

Her next thoughts drifted to Oliver and then back to two months ago when she had been curious of her mother's late night meetings and followed her. Oliver had never believed his mother would cheat on Walter, despite Thea's protests and then proceeded to tell their mother which lead to a rather awkward conversation that left her in tears.

The only other person she knew she could trust with something like this was Tommy; in the years Oliver was lost at sea, he had become the surrogate brother she had lost. Much like today, anytime something bad had gone on in either of their lives, they would meet, automatically switching to junk food and films in bed. But this was Tommy's father, if Thea even managed to persuade Tommy about the affair, his relationship with his father was rocky enough now and if Thea was wrong about this and she told Tommy, then she could be forcing Tommy to lose his father for no reason.

There was one other person she trusted despite only having known her a few months. Since the kidnapping she had not spoken to Felicity aside from receiving a simple text from her letting Thea know that she was okay. Thea began to dial her number, in hope she would pick up at Verdant.

…

Smoke billowed out from around the room, clouding Felicity's vision. The heat from the mass of bodies entwining in the centre of the floor flushed her skin. Flashes of different lights from above her rained down, illuminating the smoky aura. Searching frantically through the crowds her eyes made their way to Oliver deep in conversation with Tommy. Feeling a shiver of relaxation slip over her, Felicity turned back to the bar wishing for any excuse to leave. She was making an effort for Oliver's sake but loud noises and being enclosed in this space virtually breathing on top of someone else was something Felicity didn't think she would ever be comfortable with.

Suddenly the harsh grip on her shoulder spun her around to face a tall man, his friends cheering him on from behind. It was obvious from his aroma and the way his posture staggered by simply standing straight that he was drunk.

"C'mon lady. Let's have a dance"

Before Felicity could protest, she was dragged to her feet and hauled across the man's shoulder. Felicity immediately began kicking wildly but it only seemed to egg the group on, the alcohol blurring their sense of pain. Struggling to restrain the rage of the mirakuru in her with fear of hurting the man too much. She pummelled her fists against his back whilst biting down hard on his shoulder and finally managed to twist out of his grip. Landing head first in the sea of feet, panic fuelled her veins. She scrambled to get up, strangers trampling her body, oblivious to her pain. Suddenly the wave of panic became a tsunami, drowning her senses, leaving her numb to the world.

Felicity was moments away from blacking out, the edges of her vision darkening as her fear became too much. Then two hands reached down and pulled her from the sea of bodies pressed up together. She could feel herself being lifted upwards the air suddenly thinner which she greedily gulped down, she wrapped her arms in relief around her saver, knowing without having to look who it was.

"You alright Smoaky?" Tommy asked, concern dripping across his features as he watched Felicity cling to Oliver like a lifeline, while he planted kisses amongst her hair.

Nodding, Felicity pulled away only to find Tommy's arms now wrapping around her. Looking over his shoulder, she wiped the shock from her face, mouthing a meaningful thank you to Oliver, the slight tilt of his head was the only indication he had heard her. Suddenly Tommy released her, a blush spreading across his cheeks, paralleling Felicity's as he quickly recovered, brushing off his concern for her.

The vibrating of her phone, caught Felicity's attention as she noticed Thea's contact picture illuminating her screen. Placing a quick kiss to Oliver's cheek, she showed him her phone screen and walked out of Verdant in hope of regaining her hearing against the blaring music.

After hearing Thea's distressed call, Felicity sent a simple text to Oliver saying if he needed her she would be at the mansion, and called Dig.

…

Oliver tracked the light blonde hair pushing its ways through the crowd towards the door, resisting the urge to walk her out. When Oliver turned to face Tommy once again he was met by his friend's smirking grin. He raised one eye brow in question only to receive a sarcastic headshake in return. His attention was brought back when Tommy groaned dramatically, gesturing towards Oliver's now vibrating phone in his pocket.

After a temporary moment of frustration, he cursed at himself for being so distracted he didn't even feel the vibrations. Holding up one finger and offering an apologetic shrug to Tommy, he made his way towards the office ignoring Tommy's protests at them both walking out on his night. A brief glance at the screen showed the caller ID as Star Labs forcing him to sprint the last couple of steps and slam the door behind him.

"What's wrong?"

"It's the cure. We have managed to recover our tests in part but some of the experimental mixtures are still missing and others destroyed from the explosions."

"What does that mean?"

"Thankfully we managed to salvage just enough of the original formula so we will hopefully be able to remix the cure and have it mailed to you by the end of the week."

Oliver breathed a sigh of relief, thanking Caitlin, and hung up, running a hand in frustration across his face. _Why did these things have to keep happening? Is it too much to ask for something to go right for once?_ Pushing his distressing thoughts to the back of his mind, he plastered his expression with the billionaire playboy smile he had spent so many years hiding behind and made his way out into the crowd again.

…

Felicity honestly had no idea what to expect when Thea had called her devastated; Moira supposedly cheating on Walter definitely didn't even come near her thoughts. She sat on the edge of Thea's bed, a protective arm around her side as she listened intently to Thea's story. Her innocent expression stared up at her, longing for Felicity to tell her what to do or take away the demons in her life.

Sighing, Felicity spoke, choosing her words carefully, "I think maybe you should just talk to your mom, you might have just misinterpreted it."

Thea groaned inwardly, retracting her hand from Felicity's as a wave of hurt flooded her face. "Why does no-one ever believe me?"

"No. Thea of course I believe you." Felicity was quick to correct herself, "I'm just saying don't you want to give Moira the benefit of the doubt?"

Thea shook her head violently, "The past years she has done nothing but lie to me. Why would this be any different?"

Felicity thought for a moment, "What if you spoke to the man?"

"That's the problem, it's Malcom Merlyn"

The name triggered a switch inside Felicity. Suddenly alert she gripped Thea by the shoulders, startling the girl. "No don't talk to him. Do not ever talk to him, okay? Especially if you are on your own."

"Why? He's just Tommy's dad."

Felicity's eyes widened in disbelief this was not good. The name Malcom Merlyn, the dark archer, had been brought up frequently by her father and from the stories she had heard, death and destruction followed him around.

Shaking away the memories, she just sighed and made Thea promised not to speak with him alone despite her confusion.

Dramatically collapsing against the headrest, Thea groaned loudly. "If I'm going to confront her about it then I need proof, something she can't lie her way out of."

"You said they were making contact tonight right?"

"Yeah? So?"

"Do you have a computer?" Felicity grinned.

…

The pair had spent the rest of the evening hunched over one of Thea's many laptops, with Felicity successfully dodging all questions about her computer skills. When the trace finally beeped, signalling an incoming call to Moira's cell, she fist pumped resulting in a smirk and sarcastic headshake from Thea.

Hushing her, Felicity attached a pair of headphone and handed one earplug to Thea. After a few more keystrokes, the distorted voices became clearer.

_"What do you want, Malcom?"_

_"I want to make sure you haven't changed your mind on our plans."_

_"What makes you think that?"_

_"I've seen first-hand the lengths people go to protect their family. Need I remind you what happened to your precious Walter last time you had a change of heart?"_

_"I haven't changed my mind Malcom, you do not have to threaten me."_

_"Good, our plans for the undertaking will still take place and I want Tommy and Thea with me, out of the city before anything happens."_

_"What about Oliver?"_

_"Oliver's not my son."_

Thea gasped, ripping the headphones from their socket. Droplet of tears washed over her eyes, charging down her cheeks as if time had run out. "Do-does that mean that Malcom's m-my father? And Walter … he's dead?" Her voice came out as a muffled whisper, her eyes pleading with Felicity's to erase what had just happened.

"Thea…" Felicity began, with no idea where to go from there. "I think you seriously need to talk to your mom about this and find out definitely if any of this is true. If there was another way to help you then I would jump at it but there's nothing I can say that will change any of this."

Thea looked up at Felicity hopeful; "W-would you speak to her for me?"

"Thea… you know I can't"

"Please… I don't think I can even look at her right now but I need to know." Thea spat out, her voice growing in anger with every breath.

Felicity nodded, knowing she would regret this but apparently seeing Thea this broken forced her to make crazy decisions. Felicity knew that she couldn't just accuse Moira of cheating on her husband, one that she supposedly had killed, wow that was sentence she never thought she would say. So she had to prepare for this and that certainly involved stress eating a pint of mint chip whilst working up the courage to face her boyfriend's mother. But first she had to make a plan one that would definitely involve more hacking.

…

A maid entered the living quarters relaying a message to Moira that a _Miss Felicity_ was here to see her. "Who?" Moira questioned, confused.

Taking a deep breath, Felicity stepped forward, "Me."

"If you're looking for Oliver, I'm afraid he's not here," Moira barely glanced up from the pages of her book.

"I know. I'm here to see you."

"So I finally get to meet the blonde my son is so fond of" Moira's ability to turn a friendly comment into an insult with her cold tone made Felicity shiver. "What is this about?"

"Malcom Merlyn." Moira raised an expectant eyebrow at her.

"Thea came to me convinced that you were lying to her about Malcom Merlyn, that he had something on you which didn't make any sense. So I looked into it myself because full disclosure, I don't trust you."

"Is there a point to this, I'm rather a busy woman" Moira narrowed her eyes, distaste apparent in her features.

"I went through both your accounts and flagged a large wire transfer. Malcom paid a substantial sum of money to a doctor Gill. He was the doctor who delivered Thea, which didn't make any sense to me so I went through like a dozen different theories until Thea told me that a few months ago she thought you were having an affair with Malcom Merlyn. Merlyn is Thea's father."

The look of shock lasted only momentarily before Moira expression turned to stone. "I can see why Thea and Oliver have such a high appraisal of your abilities. So, what are you going to do with this information Miss Smoak?" Felicity startled at the use of her surname, knowing that to find it out Moira must have researched her and that thought wasn't at all comforting.

"I don't know. Confronting you in your living room was as far as my plan went. I thought you deserved the chance to tell Oliver and Thea yourself. They should hear it from you."

"I'm not going to tell my children anything and neither are you"

Felicity blinked, blinded by the abrupt change in the direction of the conversation.

"If you won't keep my secret for their sake, you should keep it for your own. I see the way you look at my son. You tell him this, you will rip his world apart and a part of him will always blame you. Oh he will hate me for sure, but he will hate you too. "

Silence fell upon the room, a heated tension echoing off the huge walls and for a moment the only sound that could be heard was the continuous ticking of the great grandfather clock in the opposite room. Then Moira spoke with a certain grace that hid her cold nature too well. "We all have to keep secrets Miss Smoak."

Raising her chin Felicity countered, refusing to back down this easily for Thea's sake. "Maybe you're right, maybe they will always blame me but I can't lie to Oliver and Thea"

"Then you have pushed me to my last resort."

"If you tell Oliver or Thea or anyone for that matter then I will be forced to call in my associate."

Felicity frowned in confusion, sweat crawling across her skin at Moira's emotionless tone.

"I believe you are quite close. You see, ever since you walked through that door I've known who you are. In fact the only reason I haven't informed my associate of you yet is for my family's safety. I know he would go to great lengths to get to you."

Swallowing heavily, Felicity's breath quickened, hoping, pleading, praying that Moira's associate wasn't who she thought he was. It couldn't be, it was impossible.

"But sometimes things just have to get done and people have to get hurt, no matter how much you care for them."

"Like Walter," Felicity found herself muttering.

"Yes"

The revelation winded Felicity, if Moira had gotten rid of her own husband because he was in her way then she was so stuffed. What had she done? Without realising it, Felicity had kicked the beast before realising she had no escape, and was just left awaiting certain death.

"So, here is my offer; either you leave Starling today without as much as a single word to either of my children or I will call in the man that will tear this whole city apart without so much as blinking to get to you."

Taking note of the fear now running its course over Felicity's features she continued, "Oh, don't worry, I'm sure a family reunion can't be too bad."

The room began to spin, the air growing too heavy to breath. Felicity panicked, her head swimming in jumbled thoughts, the heat from her skin torching her. The blurred edges of the room danced, taunting her as white noise filled her ears. Black spots painfully buried their way into her vision, the last image she could make out was a cold smirk playing on Moira's lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Felicity confronting Moira is literally one of my favourite scenes on Arrow so I had to include it in here! Just wanted to take a moment and discuss the promo because OMG I'm still freaking out about it!  
> Hope you enjoyed the chapter and please let me know what you think!


	16. Secrets and Lies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hey guys so I know I said in the last author's note that the story would be on a short break because of exams, I honestly did not expect revision and A levels and everything else to take up this much time so I am so sorry for the huge delay. On the plus side I have now properly finished school (which is kind of scary) but my plan for the summer is basically binge writing so hopefully updates will be quicker now. Thanks to my beta Rebekah96 and to all you guys for sticking with the story so far! Enjoy :)

The first thing Felicity noticed was the throbbing pain erupting from the back of her head. Reaching behind, she gently touched the spot, wincing as her fingertips came away stained red. Fear gripped at her as she wearily blinked her eyes open to the darkness surrounding her. Her body lay at a painful angle, her arms strapped behind. The dull rotten aroma distracted her from the tight alien space she had woken up to. As the fog of unconsciousness started to clear, Felicity began to feel around, only pulling back when her hand brushed up against something wet trailing a thick sticky coat along her skin.

As the feeling of claustrophobia began to climb, she closed her eyes and lashed out, kicking upwards. The top rattled above her, a small beam of light now slipping through the gaps. Kicking out again more forcefully, she managed to break open what looked like a lid, causing a ray of light to scorch her eyelids. Blinking several times she glanced upwards, taking note of what looked like the side of an apartment building leading upwards. Placing a shaking, bloodied hand onto the plastic side, she wrenched her body upwards towards the opening. The motion caused a wave of nausea to sweep over her and she barely made it over the top, collapsing onto the wet floor as she emptied the contents of her stomach.

By the way the rays of sunlight drifted from beneath the clouds she guessed it was the early hours of the morning. Looking back at the dumpster in disgust, she shivered at the thought of what could have happened had she not woken up when she did. The hazy memory of Moria's icy threat circled her thoughts, making itself known.

Quickly checking in lost hope that her phone was still intact and on her, Felicity came up disappointed. Catching a glimpse of her reflection in a dirtied window, she shuddered, quickly setting about to wipe down her outfit despite knowing the stains and strong odour were two things she couldn't hide.

Being mindful of her throbbing head, Felicity stumbled towards the edge of the alleyway. Immediately recognising where in the Glades she was and began to make her way towards the foundry, hoping the team were absent.

…

As the familiar club came into view she slipped quietly in through the alley entrance to the foundry and tiptoed down the steps, breathing out a sigh of relief at the deserted area. Immediately she set to work, peeling the dampened, stained clothes off her itching body that was aching in need for an hour long soak in boiling water.

The sound of a throat clearing threw her balance and only the firm placement of large hands on her shoulders managed to steady her. She gaped at Oliver, before grabbing the abandoned top she had strewn to the side and covered herself.

"Don't you knock?"

The sarcasm that would have once been met with a small quirk of the lips was met with an unshaven pale, sleepless face. She found her eyes glued in place and watched in awe as ripples of anger spread, his expression transforming before her eyes. When the hurt and lost gaze in his eyes became flames etching for release Felicity knew there wasn't even a point retelling the cover story she had come up with.

Oliver strode towards her, taking huge strides with such a fast pace she had no idea how he didn't fall over. Taking in the clenched fists by his side vibrating in rage, the stone shape of his mouth and the burrowed lines crinkling between his eyes, Felicity, for the first time ever, felt afraid. When Oliver reached her though, he threw his tree trunk sized arms up and wrapped them around her tightly, crushing the air from her lungs. Judging by the way he was embracing her, Felicity was convinced he had no intention of ever letting her go again.

When Oliver finally let go, his gaze bore deep into her, "WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN FELICITY?"

Glancing downwards as the guilt rippled through her, Felicity began to mumble an answer.

"FELICITY! Hey, look at me." Oliver reached upwards, gently tilting her chin away from the ground. "Where were you? And don't try and make up an excuse."

"I'm sorry" Felicity spoke quietly.

"You're _sorry_?! Felicity, the past few hours have been hell. You didn't come home last night. Do you have any idea how worried I was, how worried _we_ were? You've been kidnapped before, how do you know it won't happen again?"

Felicity took hold of Oliver's outstretched hand and squeezed gently. "I'm sorry. I really am … but I can't tell you where I was. "

Oliver's expression softened visibly, calm frustration running through his features. "Can you at least tell me why?"

Felicity gulped, guilt swamping her for the lie that fell from her lips, "I just needed some time to think for myself."

Biting down on her immediate need to soothe Oliver's reaction that had crumpled before her eyes, Felicity swallowed.

"I know that everything has been a bit full on recently but I didn't realise you needed space. I just got excited I guess, so I'm sorry for going too fast, I will back off a little."

She could feel tears stinging her eyelids, and she deserved them, she deserved so much worse for lying to Oliver. But there was no way on earth she could even think about telling Oliver about Moira. As much as she hated it, Felicity knew that whatever pain she had caused Oliver, it was nothing in comparison to the agony he would endure if he found out his mother's role in all of this. So Felicity took a deep breath to compose herself and made her way towards the foundry's bathroom without glancing backwards at Oliver as it would only take one simple look to break her.

The next few hours passed slowly with Oliver hardly sparing her a glance. The rest of the team had piled in, placing greetings as normal and acting as if nothing had happened. Divesting herself in code as a means to escape from the inevitable talk she needed to have with Oliver, she found herself gazing off more than once, lost in her thoughts. Unable to understand the writing on the screen any longer, it was only the clearing of a throat that diverted her gaze. It was the first time that Oliver had actually acknowledged her since this morning.

"Felicity?" Oliver called softly, noting that she hadn't responded to the instructions the team had given out.

Her mind slipped back into itself confusion and what ifs slowly turning around in her head.

"Felicity!"

"What?!" She asked, her voice sounding abrupt from being dragged harshly away from her relentless thoughts. Her eyes laid on Oliver's features as he came to stand next to her chair, his eyebrows frowning in deep concern. "Sorry" She immediately corrected herself then responded trying to sound a bit softer this time but failing, "What?"

Sensing that something was seriously wrong, Oliver spoke gently, all anger from this morning long forgotten as he emphasised each word, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah" Felicity responded quickly, trying to draw away any suspicion. "I'm fine", glancing around at the others in the room she sighed in exhaustion, still tied up with what to do. Wincing her eyes shut in disgust at herself for telling yet another lie, she played it off, "just things", then quickly added "in here" gesturing towards her head in an attempt to sound more convincing.

"You know, sometimes talking helps", Oliver smirked.

Felicity let out a huff, "Who taught you that?"

"My IT expert" Oliver shrugged, his eyes glinting at the small smile now playing upon Felicity's lips.

Swivelling round to fully face him, she noticed the genuine concern igniting his eyes and in that moment decided that she couldn't keep something like this from him anymore. So, running her hand through her hair nervously she blinked once, then began.

Unsure how on earth she was even going to begin this conversation, Felicity fumbled over her words.

It was Oliver's hand on her shoulder that made her pause. "Is this about your family, your dad?"

"No" she shook her head, swallowing loudly, her nerves alight, "it's about yours."

The moment the words left her lips, a ringing sounded throughout the lair. The abrupt noise splintered the tension, Felicity's eyes rising from the floor to meet Oliver's apologetic gaze. Reaching into his jean's pocket, he brought out his illuminated phone and held it to Felicity's view.

"It's just my mom. I can call her back later."

All of a sudden the intensity of the situation hit her. What the hell was she doing? Was she really about to blurt out that his mother's a supervillain? Moira was all kinds of evil, a manipulative liar for sure but this was still Oliver's mother.

She stood up so suddenly that she was forced to grip onto the side of the desk to steady herself. Regaining full balance she pushed past Oliver's outstretched hand and made her way towards the foundry steps, "I need some air".

The second Felicity made it to the alleyway she sunk to the floor, the cool bricked wall was harsh against the thin layer of her top. A light breeze chilled her flush cheeks as she let out an exasperated sigh. Exhaling loudly as she remained trapped in her own tumult, she pulled her knees up to her chest feeling the tears slip down her cheeks.

She sat outside, pleading with anyone that would listen that Oliver would let her have this moment alone as she just couldn't face him right now. She was left with an impossible decision, stuck in the liminal state between right and wrong. If she told Oliver the truth it would rip his family apart, as well as placing them in danger. Unless Moira was lying? But was it really worth the risk? Running her shaking hands through her hair she sighed once again.

Sending a quick text to let Oliver know where she was going, she began to make her way towards the front of the club. In the minute it took to arrive in Verdant's car park, a black sedan had pulled in front of her, the window rolling down and revealing Dig's smirking face.

"To the mansion?"

Felicity stood, shocked. "What? How did you even know? And how did you get here so fast?"

Dig just raised his eyebrows in response expressing the obviousness.

"Right – Oliver. Of course. But let me tell you, he better not have ordered you to do this, otherwise we will be having words. I mean not you and me but Oliver and me, well Oliver and I. Whatever. The point is, is that I refuse to be manhandled from one person to another. I can take care of myself, you know. Unless you are just offering me a lift then, that's really kind so umm thanks."

Sighing at Dig's interchangeable expression, she climbed into the car, "one of these days I'm going to be able to control my own mouth."

…

Pulling up the large driveway, the guards waved her in. She stood in the large entrance hall and said her good-byes to Dig. She began to trek up the never-ending stair-case, her feet dragging and legs heavy by the top. Making her way towards Oliver's room, she collapsed on the bed, sighing as the soft mattress moulded around her tense body. The exhaustion from the day finally hitting her, the stress and secrets piling up. Allowing herself a moment of relaxation, Felicity forced herself up, stripping off Oliver's oversized hoodie and making her way towards the wardrobe in search of something comfy to sleep in.

Opening the wardrobe door lazily, she blindly reached for her sleep shorts, her hand fumbling around when she couldn't find them. Using her full attention now, Felicity peered into the wardrobe, confused. Blinking twice she gazed perplexed at the emptiness, she could have sworn Raisa had just washed them a few days ago. Giving up she started searching around for a substitute and after a minute she froze. _Where the hell was all her stuff?_

A chilling thought appeared, a sense of dread seeping through her as she pushed it to the back of her mind. Frowning, she pulled out the empty hangers, throwing them behind her. A single thought playing on loop; this couldn't be happening. Reaching towards the back of the wardrobe, she shoved aside the hanging items, violently tearing out the folded shirts. But it didn't matter where she looked because everything of hers was gone.

Spinning around to the sound of small footsteps walking past the room, Felicity called out. "Hey, Thea can you come here a sec?"

The footsteps stopped and grew louder until the door swung open, turning around to face the door she began to speak; "Hey, do you know what's happened to…" Felicity trailed off as she took in the sight of Thea's tear stained face. "Hey what's wrong?" Placing a gentle hand on the younger girls shoulder, she pulled her downwards till she was slumped on the bed next to her. Waiting for Thea to talk, she began rubbing her thumb in a circular motion, offering any form of comfort she could give.

After a couple of minutes Thea buried her face in her hands, smudging her eye make-up with the backs of her palms. Running a trembling hand through her hair, she looked up and accepted the crumpled tissue from Felicity's outstretched hand.

"Do you keep anything from my brother?" Thea asked, her voice still shaking.

Confused at the topic Felicity paused for a moment, considering the question. "Not really. He doesn't know everything about my past but if he wants to know then I'm not going to keep it from him. Why the sudden interest?" After a moment or two she began to realise what Thea was implying. "Did something happen with you and Roy? Is there something you're keeping from him?"

At Thea's silence, she continued, "I'm not saying you have to tell me whatever it is but maybe if you tell me what it's roughly about then I might be able to help."

Thea sighed dramatically, throwing the top of her body backwards on the bed so that she was lying down fully. "It was last week, around the time of the kidnapping. Roy, he... he told me something. Something big and I just don't know how to react to it. I mean I feel like I should be angry at him for lying to me all this time but in a way what he said made everything suddenly clear, why he's always sneaking off or making excuses. So I've just been avoiding him the past week, finding any and every excuse not to meet up but I know he can tell they are fake."

Felicity smiled gently, standing upright, "Right here's the plan; tonight we will have one of your famous Disney film sleepovers and then tomorrow you are going to arrange to meet Roy and just tell him everything you've told me, okay?" Watching Thea nod in response, Felicity linked her arm through Thea's and led her towards the girl's bedroom, the absence of Felicity's belongings long forgotten.

…

They were half way through the third film when the sound of a phone ringing interrupted them. Recognising the ringtone set specifically for Arrow missions, Felicity snatched up the phone, holding it up. Talking in hushed tones she glanced back at Thea, a wave of guilt striking her.

"Thea I'm so sorry. I have to go. There's a problem at the office and Oliver desperately needs my IT skills."

The smile fell from Thea's lips, a flicker of disappointment showed, quickly replaced by feigned happiness. "Its fine" she gestured at Felicity, "Honestly, just go."

Apologising once more, she raced towards the door, speed whispering strict instructions to the team.

…

Felicity arrived back at the foundry just as Oliver emerged from the attached shower room in full costume, so she sunk into her chair and began filling herself in. Oliver walked over, placing a quick kiss to her forehead before gesturing to the screen.

"Your scanners picked up an illegal shipment of acetone peroxide, an explosive compound the Reaper Brother's may have been using in their bombs. It's just a local gang involvement so Dig gave Roy the night off."

Nodding in understanding, she felt herself relax as Oliver wound his arms around her waist, perching on her lap. Leaning in, she felt Oliver grin as she pressed her lips to his. She let out a small hum in protest as he kept the kiss chaste and quick. All too soon the others finished changing and Oliver extracted himself from her with one last peck on the lips and led the vigilantes out.

…

Two hours later, the foundry door slammed against the wall in protest, signalling that the mission had not ended well. Wincing as the room fell silent to the sound of a bow crashing against the table, along with a set of arrows slammed down next to them, Felicity's eyes followed the few that had missed and fell against the ground. Walking up as the room emptied in record time, she sighed, whilst pulling herself onto the table next to Oliver.

As Felicity tried to find the words to console him, her gaze was countered with one of fire. Holding her hands up in surrender, she started to talk. "I'm not going to ask what happened because clearly that's not going to end well for me, but, when you want to talk just know that I'm here. Okay?"

Expecting to be met with resistance, shocked fuelled her as Oliver pulled her off the table into his lap, wrapping his arms fully around her. Pushing her hair off of one shoulder, Oliver inhaled deeply, finding comfort in the familiar floral scent. Oliver stayed in that position for several minutes, simply playing with a lock of Felicity's hair, his eyes shut tight.

"I'm officially the Queen teddy bear"

"What?" Felicity's ramble broke him out of his bliss, a small quirk playing on his lips.

"Well, first Thea and now you, all in the same day. I honestly don't understand what you guys did before me." She babbled on, oblivious to Oliver's (named by Thea) 'heart eyes'.

Silence drifted in once more until Felicity found the words slipping from her mouth. "There's something I need to tell you and you're really not going to like it."

Dropping his arms from her side, a serious tone masked his face. "Is this about earlier?"

Sighing loudly Felicity just opened her mouth, letting her words fly away in sync with her thoughts. "Okay, okay, before you say anything, just know that I never imagined her plans and her keeping something like this from you. I mean, sure, I could have imagined it. I actually have a very vivid imagination. Like cronuts! I had a vision of them before-"

"Hey" Oliver interrupted, "Relax. Take a deep breath." He breathed in deeply along with Felicity then continued, "Good. Now start at the beginning, who are you talking about and what secrets?"

The very second she opened her mouth, Oliver's phone started to ring. A wave of frustration flew over the pair, Felicity shaking her head in annoyance. Reaching backwards Oliver showed Moira's icon lighting his phone's screen.

"Ignore it." Felicity blurted out, adding a please on the end as an afterthought.

"Felicity what's going on?"

"I-"

The sound of the alarms from the foundry's computer sounded and a second later Felicity was at the screens, frantically typing at the keyboards. "Someone's trying to break into our network."

"What do you need me to do?"

"Nothing! Just – stay right there"

Her hands flew across the keys in a blurring motion, her teeth worrying over her bottom lip in concentration. Then, just as suddenly as the alarms started, they abruptly ended. Confused, she started scans to note what files the intruder was trying to access. One stood out in particular as she clicked on it, it led to an automated message. Unable to resist, Felicity clicked open the message;

I HAVE WARNED YOU ONCE ALREADY. DON'T TELL HIM AND MAKE ME FULFIL MY PROMISE.

A strike of nausea swept over her, ice prickling at her skin as the message became clear. Trying to feign her reaction, she quickly closed the message before Oliver could see. Her mind whizzed away, 100 mph, a speed too fast even she couldn't keep up with her thoughts. _It had to be Moira. Who else would be threatening them? The timing was no coincidence either. Earlier that morning when the she devil phoned just as she was telling Oliver was a coincidence, just moments ago her phoning again whilst she was trying to tell Oliver was misfortunate, however, receiving the threat at the same time was deliberate. One dreaded thought took up Felicity's mind. But no, it wasn't even possible. Could Moira really be bugging Oliver or herself? Was this just audio recordings or has she planted cameras? If Moira was also the person behind the message then she must have some shady contacts to be able to infiltrate their firewall. But then did that mean Moira knows Oliver's the Arrow? That she's known all this time? No. But how could she not know?_

Thoughts and theories buzzed through her mind but know she knew Moira wasn't bluffing, it meant she had to take her threats seriously, Moira was willing to risk the lives of her family by summoning her father. If she told Oliver everything now then it could end with the city being torn apart by her father's rage.

A small tear escaped her closed eyelids as emotions swirled inside her.

"I think I need some air" she breathed, walking towards the staircase.

Catching her arm, Oliver spun her around, "No. Not this again. Felicity just tell me, please."

"I can't do this anymore okay! There's just too many secrets and lies and it's too much" Shrugging away Oliver's hand from her shoulder, she made her way towards the exit. Glancing back, remorse filled her seeing Oliver's broken gaze. "I'm sorry. I just- I just need some time to figure this all out, okay?"

Lost within her thoughts, Felicity made her way into the back alley, losing her sense of surroundings. She didn't hear the dark footsteps behind her until it was too late. A sharp stinging sounded at the base of her neck, a cool liquid seeping into her. Reaching for her phone, she drew it out as her body crashed against the ground. Fumbling with the passcode as the blurred digits spun across the screen, her vision blackened in the corners, Felicity's hands started to tremble. She could feel the cold numbness slowly trail down her arms, her hands now immobile. Losing all control in her movements her eyelids drifted closer together, low voices intertwining.

…

The grogginess started to slip away, her body aching in every place possible. Not caring who heard, she let out a low groan because seriously what was with her and being kidnapped? A quiet shuffling stilled her body then a broken voice spoke out, "Hello? Is anyone there?"

Her eyes shot open at the voice, only to be met with blackness. The male voice sounded vulnerable and full of fear, a British accent shining through. Answering back, Felicity slowly crawled over to the darkened figure curled up in the dim light, the only break from the blackness. As she drew closer, the familiar figure turned towards her in fright. Shock hit her at once as she registered the man she had seen only in photos, the man she believed Moira had had killed, the man that was both Oliver and Thea's step-father. She saw a dead man, his eyes dropped low, his skin sagging and his body thin. His beard left unshaven and overgrown, hiding his features from the hideous world.

Reaching out, she brushed her fingers along the side of this familiar stranger's face, ignoring his flinch and breathed out, "Walter?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading, please let me know what you think!


End file.
